Insecurities
by Texascowgirl-13
Summary: Sango has formed a bond with Sesshomaru while training for the final battle with Naraku. Now that he's gone and everything seems to calm down the gang and Sesshomaru encounter an enemy that has been watching them all along. What does he want with Sango?
1. Chapter 1

**a/n: Hey yall! I know its been a super duper long time since I've written anything but it's been so crazy busy with senior year that I haven't had time to do much of anything. This story is kinda an idea I've had for a while but haven't done anything to and since it snowed here in West Texas today and we got out of school I decided I'd finally get to writing again. I do still have Calculus homework that I need to do but eh... ^-^. Anyways, this is a Sango/Sesshy(obviously). It's kinda little bit different writing style that what I normally do so if you've read my stuff before this may be a little bit different. I don't know whether I should leave this as a oneshot or continue on and make it a full fledged story. Yall reviewers will just have to let me know what yall think. Please don't be too harsh since I'm kinda rusty. ^.^?! Well on to the story and I hope you enjoy!!!**

**"Speech"**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha, or Sango, or Sesshy, or any of the other not so important characters in the series I didn't mention before. NOT ME!!! -.-'...**

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**Insecurities**

Chapter 1- We meet again

A shadow. That's all she was compared to the lovely and feminine Kagome. Every man their group came in contact with was drawn in by her friend's beauty and spiritual power. She, on the other hand, was ignored for the most part and simply remained in her usual position; in Kagome's shadow.

She usually tried not to think too much about the fact that she was no longer a young girl and, at the age of 19, she was not likely to find someone to marry her for love. She'd long ago given up on the hope that the monk would be monogamous for her and that was not something she was prepared to put up with. She'd broken off their "engagement" and since then not even the standardless monk would look at her in a way other than friendship.

Sadly, the thing she was most proud of was the reason that she would never find a husband. Her skill and ability as a slayer scared off almost all normal village men and the few that weren't scared off by her reputation were slimy perverts that weren't worth her time. Of course there was always that prince that had a thing for her but she knew she could never be happy with the domestic life of a princess.

So it was with a clouded mind that the slayer followed behind her friends on a sunny summer day of travel. They were nearing a town and she knew that once again she would take her place in her friend's shadow as the men of the village fawned over her. She didn't resent her friend because of her receiving all of the attention but she could not help the tiny bit of jealousy that welled in her chest.

Turns out that the village they were approaching was a demon village along the boarders of the West inhabited primarily by humanoid demons. Inuyasha swore harshly but the group was out of supplies and had no other choice but to enter the village. They entered with Inuyasha up front, Kagome and Miroku slightly behind him walking side by side, and herself and Kirara bringing up the rear. The village seemed like any normal human village, buzzing with activity around the market place, but she knew that appearances could be deceiving and so she guarded their rear with one hand on her rather large weapon.

As usual eyes fell upon the group of strangers that was making their way through the village and as usual the eyes of the majority of the male populace flew to the pale, slender, perfect legs of her best friend before moving up her body and examining the rest of her feminine form. However, in an act completely foreign to her the eyes moved to her own form, clad in her black and pink slayer's armor, before roving her form just as they had her friends. Shock jolted her system as she realized that many eyes were still on her while none still rested on her friend. Shaking her head she shrugged it off as the demon men being weary of her because of her obvious profession.

As they made their way through the village she continued to feel the eyes of the demon men simply gliding over Kagome to make their way over to her body. It was a strangely eerie feeling but not one that she could say was altogether unpleasant. Was she not just minutes before thinking jealously that her friend would get all of the attention? Feeling her face heat up in the beginnings of a blush she snuffed out that kind of thinking before any real color could come to her face and the sharp eyes of the demons could see it. Did getting ogled by a group of demon men really affect her that much?

A short while later the group left the village with replenished supplies and without a single problem. They were even lucky enough to find out from one of the merchants that there was another village, a human village, nearby in which they could spend the night. Inuyasha refused but once the merchant told Kagome there was a hot spring near the village it was all but decided. So they headed north and slightly east towards the village that rested just inside the boarder of the western lands.

Travel between the two villages, however, was treacherous even for the demon occupants of the last village and it did not surprise her when they ran into a fairly large group of ogre demons with a bad attitude. As is usual with ogre demons they demanded that the men of the group leave them the women and they would let them pass unharmed. Of course Inuyasha did not take kindly to the ogres threatening his mate and the woman that had come to be his sister and drew Tetsaiga before throwing himself into the hoard.

Following him into the hoard had not been necessary, he could have taken care of them himself, but she was a demon slayer and it was her job to protect his back. Plus, she didn't much care for the demons referring to her and Kagome as the "two whores". Flinging her large weapon she took out two ogre demons by slicing through their stomachs before the giant boomerang spun around and returned to her. Looking around she saw that Inuyasha was easily dispatching the demons while Miroku and Kagome picked of the few on the outsides.

It was then that she saw the leader of the ogre pack, a half humanoid demon with the legs and torso of a human and arms and head of an ogre, running quickly towards Inuyasha's unprotected back with a long sword drawn. Without thinking she ran to intercept the demon while throwing Hiraikotsu to decapitate the demon Inuyasha was fighting to try to get his attention. Left with only her katana she drew it swiftly and skillfully as she slid in front of the demon and just barely blocked the blow that would have pierced Inuyasha's heart.

"Sango!"

Inuyasha's yell from behind her confirmed that he knew she had his back but since he was not attacking the demon she guessed the rest of the hoard must have been fighting him back. The demon leader merely grinned a wicked grin full of crooked yellow-orange teeth before drawing back his long sword and viciously slamming it down into her own smaller katana. She winced at the impact but had no time to think on it as the demon continued to slash at her with violent and incredibly strong blows that were slowly making their way through her defenses.

Long, deep, bloody wounds were slowly blossoming across her body as the humanoid ogre demon merely continued to grin wickedly. Swordsmanship had never been her strong suit and the fact that the demon had the arms of an ogre and thus wielded its' incredible strength did not put the odds in her favor. However, she was faster and more agile than the demon and had managed to avoid every deadly blow he'd sent at her thus far. She was in the midst of executing her quickly formulated plan when her katana suddenly snapped beneath the forceful blows of the demon's long sword and his sword carved a deep bloody path all the way from her left shoulder down her arm to the beginning of her ring finger.

"SANGO!!!"

The collective cry of her three friends rang through her ears even as she jumped backwards clutching her arm to avoid the demons next blow. She continued to jump back out of his reach as he swung wildly until suddenly her body slammed painfully into something hard and rough, a large tree at the side of the road, and she knew she could go no farther. Watching as the demon leader swung his blade down on her she could only glare defiantly as her body refused to respond to her demands to move to the side.

A flash of silver and white flooded her vision and she heard a load clang of steel against steel. Looking up she realized that she'd sunken to the ground against the tree at some point and that the silver haired demon in front of her was not her red clothed friend.

"S-Sesshomaru?"

The demon lord in question threw a quick glance back at her over his shoulder before slicing the ogre demon in half with Tokijin. Just as quickly as he'd appeared, he disappeared from her vision only to appear across the clearing to kill the remaining ogres that Inuyasha had not taken care of in a blur of swift sword slices. She was so enthralled by watching Sesshomaru's movements that she did not notice that Kagome was beside her frantically fussing over her various deep wounds, primarily the long bleeding gash down her left arm. Shaking herself mentally she looked at Kagome exhaustedly and tried to ease her worry.

"It's fine Kagome. I've lived through much worse."

"But Sango, it's so deep!"

The thought somehow struck a chord in her heart. The wound was deep, deep wounds scar, scars were unsightly and repulsed men even more than her status as a slayer. A deep sadness, deeper than any wound she could ever receive seemed to set into her heart. What was one other scar? She already had a scar so large and grotesque that no man would ever want her after seeing it.

"Kagome! How's Sango?"

Inuyasha and Sesshomaru approached them together, they'd become closer after they'd defeated Naraku together with the help of the rest of the gang but still she thought they acted more like mere allies than brothers. Before Kagome could answer them with something along the lines of "no she's hurt badly" she quickly cut in.

"I'm fine Inuyasha. Thank you for saving me Sesshomaru."

Both brothers seemed to eye her wearily as the deep wound along the length of her arm continued to bleed profusely. She and Sesshomaru had slowly become partners and dare she say even friends in the few months they'd trained for the last battle with Naraku. With Inuyasha having Kagome as backup she had been stuck with Sesshomaru and then two had turned out to be quite the deadly fighting duo. Of course it had taken a LOT of time and effort on Sango's part but in the end they'd all pulled together and defeated the disgusting half-spider monster.

They had parted ways after that but she'd seen him numerous times in the last year that the group had been hunting the once again shattered Shikon no Tama and they somehow continued to have a deep connection that only two who had fought and bled together could form. It was almost like one could sense when the other was in danger. She herself had sensed when he was being attacked by a small army of invaders trying to take over the lands of the West even from Kaede's village and to this day she could not tell you how she arrived to his aid so quickly.

"You look like shit Sango."

"Yes, I agree. What possessed you to try to fight an ogre demon with merely your pathetically weak katana?"

She glared up at the two brothers. Of course the only time they agree on anything is when they were picking on her. She barely noticed as Miroku approached with Shippo and Kirara as well as Rin, Jaken, and Ah-Uhn.

"I threw Hiraikotsu to get Inuyasha's attention and my katana was all I had left. What else was I supposed to do, just let the demon stab a whole in your back Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha "hmphed" and crossed his arms across his chest while Sesshomaru merely raised an elegant brow at him and sent her a reproachful look. She felt a slight pain and looked over to see that Kagome was securing the last of the bandages, which now covered her entire arm, in place.

"Guys I think we should set up camp somewhere close so that I can finish tending to Sango's wounds and Miroku can get supper started."

Both men nodded and sent each other a look that seemed to say exactly what needed to be done because Inuyasha turned and jumped off into the forest to search for a suitable campsite without a word while Sesshomaru moved forward and bent down to scoop Sango's wounded form into his arms. She would have protested were she not so exhausted from the battle and blood loss. Kirara transformed as Miroku and Kagome both struggled to drag Hiraikotsu over to Kirara who merely tucked her head under the strap and allowed the two to crawl onto her back.

As Sesshomaru took off into the forest at a smooth run she looked up into his face to see his eyes roving her injured form disapprovingly.

"Stupid woman. Did I not tell you to take care of yourself the last time I saw you?"

His tone was chiding and slightly harsh but she could see the worry in his eyes behind his mask of annoyance. After months together training, eating, and sleeping near each other she knew him like no one else knew him and the same applied for him to her. Despite the pain she smiled weakly up at him.

"I missed you too you arrogant jerk of a demon."

He smirked slightly but their arrival at the clearing Inuyasha had chosen prevented him from retorting with some sort of sarcastic comment. She could see that Inuyasha had already found some wood and was lighting a fire as the rest of the group landed in the clearing behind them. Sesshomaru carried her to a place a short distance away from the fire and gently set her down.

"Inuyasha, I shall go patrol the area around our encampment for demons. I expect to find everything the way I am leaving it or in better condition when I get back."

His last comment was thrown her way, she knew, but she was stopped from responding by Rin slamming painfully into her and wrapping her in a big hug.

"Sango-chan! It's been so long, I have missed you!"

"I've missed you too Rin but could you please try to be a little more gentle?"

At that the young girl released her with a big grin and backed up about a step. She saw Sesshomaru smile slightly out of the corner of her eye before he disappeared to scout the area. Watching the others set up camp she felt bad for not helping and was about to stand to aid Miroku with the food when Kagome caught her gently by her uninjured shoulder and sat her back down.

"I don't think so Sango. I still need to finish bandaging your wounds and then you need to rest so that you can heal more quickly."

Scowling, she resigned herself to sitting there uselessly while the others finished setting up. Kagome only took a few minutes and when she returned she had her healing kit in her hands. Sitting down beside her Kagome looked over the injuries before coming to a conclusion.

"Sango I'm going to need you to take off the top of your slayer's suit so that I can see your wounds better."

Sighing deeply she simply shrugged off the top of the shredded suit. The left sleeve was completely gone and her arm was covered in bloody bandages from earlier but the rest of her suit was in tact for the most part, however she knew she'd need to return to her village to mend it. With her top gone she was covered only by the breast wrappings she always wore to contain her rather well endowed chest. She was glad to see that those bandages had held up for the most part.

As Kagome worked though, she felt eyes on her back and she knew that Inuyasha, Miroku, or both were staring at the large scar on her back that was only partially covered by her breast wrappings. Once again a feeling of deep sadness welled within her as she knew that that had to be what they were staring at, not the creamy exposed flesh of her shoulders and neck.

"What the hell are you staring at monk?"

Sesshomaru's harsh voice cut through the near silence in the clearing like a knife as he approached from the darkness with a glare. Of course Sesshomaru had seen her scar before when they'd been training harshly on a particularly hot day and she'd worn only her chest bindings and a pair of Kagome's shorts while he himself had shed his armor and kimono top. Miroku, however, had never gotten a clear view of the large scar even when he'd tried to spy on them in the hot springs so it did not surprise her that he was staring. She had told Sesshomaru though, during one such sparing session, that it hurt her deeply when people stared at her scars, especially that one. Apparently he still remembered.

"Nothing. I was merely…"

"Merely what monk?"

Sesshomaru and Miroku never had quite found a way to get along as he and Inuyasha had though battle. Miroku was not a warrior and as such could not relate to someone in battle and the chilly demon lord viewed his perverted ways as disgraceful. She had also told Sesshomaru of her experiences with the monk and, as her battle partner, he'd been quite displeased by the pain the monk had caused her but refrained from killing him merely at her request.

"You had better keep those filthy eyes to yourself monk before I come and rip them from your worthless head myself."

The growled threat was enough for Kagome to fault in her movements and Sango's head to turn to watch them worriedly. Inuyasha was merely keeping an eye on the situation from across the fire but she could see that his hand had settled atop the hilt of Tetsaiga in case he needed to run interference.

"Sesshomaru."

At the sound of her voice he seemed to calm down enormously and moved to sit between the girls and the monk around the fire. She watched as he threw menacing glares at Miroku who now had wide eyes and a dumbfounded expression. She knew that Sesshomaru didn't like him and that he was very protective of her because of their bond but such a threat could never be taken lightly especially when threatened by one such as the Lord of the West.

She wished that they could get along better but due to Miroku's inability to fight in the final battle due to complications with his wind tunnel Sesshomaru had no respect for him whatsoever and those who he did not respect he treated like trash. She would have continued that train of thought but a sudden stabbing pain in her side caused her to hiss loudly and draw the attention off all three of the men around the fire.

"Sorry Sango. You had a sharp piece of wood in you side where you must have jumped back into the tree and I had to pull it out. I should have warned you, I'm sorry."

"It's fine Kagome, don't worry about it. It didn't hurt that badly anyway."

She could only talk through clenched teeth and in truth the stinging pain was still there and would not seem to go away. She glanced at Sesshomaru to see that he was studying her face and knew that she was lying about the pain. By the expression in his eyes she knew he was worried even though his face had not changed from its' slightly angered mask.

"There. Now all I need to do is change the bandages on your arm and you'll be all done so we can eat."

Grinding her teeth together she waited for the pain that would accompany the removal of the bandages along her arm. They were no longer white, instead stained crimson by her blood and she realized that the wound must be deeper than she thought. Trying to distract herself from the painful removal of the bandages she decided, instead, to focus on Sesshomaru, as he was the closest to her and easily in her line of sight.

As Kagome removed the bandages she could see his brows knit together slightly and the worry in his eyes to become more pronounced. These subtle changes were something she was sure only she could catch but his worry touched her and distracted her slightly from the pain until finally the bandages were fully removed.

"Gosh Sango its still bleeding heavily. I think I'm going to need to put some stitches in."

She did not acknowledge Kagome's statement but simply watched as Sesshomaru's face changed slightly into a frown as his careful eyes examined the wound. When his golden eyes moved back up to her face she saw worry and what she thought almost looked like a trace of fear.

"Sango are you alright? You are extremely pale."

For some reason his voice seemed to be growing distant as the edge of her vision blurred and started to go black.

"Sango? Sango!"

His worried voice was the last thing she heard as her vision blacked out completely and she fell forwards against something soft yet strong before her entire being was pulled down into the realm of unconsciousness.

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**a/n: hehe...cliffy. ^-^! For those of you who don't know me cliffies are kinda my thing. Well! So what did yall think? Kinda wierd compared to the way I usually write but I wanted to try something new. And ya, I'm kinda rusty, so most of the begining is horrible anyways. Well there it is. Yall let me know what you think I should do; leave it as a oneshot or continue on.... OH, btw, I KNOW that Sesshy's kinda out of character but there's a reason for that so plz don't review and tell me he's OOC. **

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!! **


	2. Waking up to Trouble

**a/n: Hey yall! So, due to all of my awesome reviewers I have decided to make this a full fledged story. Also, since I'm going back to school tomorrow I tried my hardest to get this chapter out cuz I don't know when I'll be able to update next but hopefully it won't be long. Anyways, here's chappy 2 I hope yall enjoy!!!**

**"Speech"**

**_'Thoughts'_**

**DISCLAIMER: I'm just a poor, poor, little writer so I obviously don't own any part of Inuyasha......sigh...**

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Chapter 2- Waking up to Trouble

The hazy gray-black state that she was currently in was not something she had never before experienced. In fact, in her profession it was something she'd become quite used to after a fight gone badly. Then again, could one ever become used to the strange vertigo and emptiness of unconsciousness? Because that's where she was; floating freely within the own onyx void within her mind.

There was no way of telling how long she'd been floating in the blackness. She assumed that most of the time she'd been trapped within the void she was swathed so thickly within its suffocating folds that she was entirely unaware of her own existence. Now, as she had experienced in the past, she was close to awakening and her mind was now awake and aware while her body was not.

She knew what was to come next; slowly she would begin to hear the voices of those around her, next feeling in her body would return meaning that the pain of her injuries would be pushed to the forefront of her mind, and then lastly the blackness would recede and she would be able to reclaim her body.

As it was, she was already beginning to hear the faint sound of voices around her. She could tell from the quite and lack of birdsong that she was no longer outdoors and assumed she back in Kaede's village since it had not been far from where she was wounded. Soon the voices became clear enough to confirm that she was indeed in Kaede's hut.

"When do you think she's going to wake up Kaede? It's already been a whole day since we brought her here."

That was indefinitely Kagome's voice. Her friend's concern for her was touching and she only wished she could speak to assure her that she was fine and that there was nothing to worry about. Then again, was that not what she had said before unexpectedly passing out and remaining unconscious for a day?

"There is no way of telling child. She had lost a significant amount of blood when ye brought her to me and her body needs time to replenish its' supply."

Inwardly smiling at Kaede's knowledge and understanding she knew that Kagome would not have to wait long as feeling in her body was already beginning to come back to her. Unfortunately the first feeling to assault her consciousness was throbbing pain from numerous areas along her body and specifically her left arm. The fingers on her left hand twitched slightly as pain shot through her arms and along the nerve receptors to her brain.

"Look Kaede I saw her hand move!"

Now that she had regained full feeling in her limbs she was no longer so sure that she could tell Kagome that she was fine. Her whole body ached and she felt exactly like Inuyasha had said she looked a day ago. Thinking of Inuyasha turned her thoughts toward the worried face of his brother that she had seen just before loosing consciousness.

_'He seemed worried. I guess I looked worse than I thought I did. I bet he's just worried that he'll have to train another fighting partner if I get killed.'_

Her thoughts on the matter were halted as she realized that Kagome was calling for her to wake up.

"Sango? Sango wake up, open your eyes."

Gathering the strength needed to perform such a menial task was more difficult that she would have liked but she managed none the less and forced her pained brown eyes to open and view her surroundings. She found herself lying on a futon in Kaede's hut with Kagome and Kaede both hovering over her in a slightly creepy way.

"Sango your awake! I'm so glad, I was so worried about you!"

Her emotional friend leaned forward and pulled her into a tender hug that despite it's gentleness left her aching in more than a few places. Managing to hide the fact from her sister figure she decided to try her voice for the first time in over a day.

"I-I'm fine Kagome. C-could I please have some water t-though?"

Not unexpectedly her throat was as dry as sandpaper and twice as rough. She watched as her friend nodded happily and grabbed one of the plastic water containers from her time before exiting the hut to head towards the river.

"Ye are not as fine as ye pretend to be child. Ye may have fooled young Kagome but it is plain to me that ye are still in pain. I shall fetch ye some medicinal herbs and return shortly so try to rest whilst I am gone."

Knowing that she could not answer in a voice above a shaky whisper she merely nodded and followed the old priestess out of the hut with her eyes before letting them fall to her wounds. She found herself once again swathed in almost a cocoon of bandages that covered her entire left arm and hand before moving across her chest and down her torso.

She was no longer in her slayer suit but instead a thin white sleeping yakuta that Kaede must have borrowed from one of the village women. Looking around she found her armor lying folded in a neat pile in the corner with her weapon leaning heavily against the wall beside it. She noticed, however, that her broken katana was not with her other weapons and she knew that she'd have to make a trip to her village to get another one and patch her suit.

"Here's your water Sango."

Looking up she realized that her friend had returned without her notice. Brushing aside the nervousness she felt at not noticing her friend's approach she donned a fake smile and took the water from her. To say that the cool spring water was thirst quenching would be an unforgivable understatement. Feeling it's coolness spread throughout her chest she allowed herself to savor the feeling a moment before responding.

"Thank you Kagome that helped a lot."

Voice no longer scratchy and halting, she was able to better convince her friend that she was ok. The happy look on her face told her that she'd believed the almost lie that she'd just told. She was no where near "fine" but she was not about to let Kagome know it and so she decided to change the subject before her friend asked her about her wounds.

"Where are the boys Kagome? Did you have to chase them out of the hut so that they wouldn't brake anything arguing over how Inuyasha should have protected me?"

Her friend gave her a very puzzled and confused expression before smiling widely and nodding.

"Ya actually, earlier today. How did you know that that's what they were arguing about?"

She smiled as her mind wandered back to the time that she'd run to Sesshomaru's aid in the middle of the night when the army of invaders attacked him. She'd wound up getting injured and Sesshomaru had carried her back to Kaede's village so that she could be treated. Upon their return Sesshomaru received the full wrath of Inuyasha's rant on protecting our friends and of course that led to an argument.

"It's not the first time Kagome. You were in your time the last time it happened though."

"Well I'm glad I missed it the first time then because things were getting pretty rough this morning. Sesshomaru seemed absolutely livid that Inuyasha allowed you to fight the leader of the ogre demons instead of him and you know how Inuyasha is whenever his temper flares up."

They were interrupted by a loud crash followed by a string of curses. Both girls looked up and towards the door before turning back to meet each other's eyes. They both knew what was happening but it was nearing dark and they figured that the two would have stopped by now. The sound of steel on steel halted their thoughts on the matter and prompted Kagome to get up and run to the door.

She watched as Kagome's face filled with worry before she ran out of the hut. Unable to follow, she instead decided to focus her hearing on trying to catch any details on what was going on outside the hut. However, the thick walls of the hut blocked out all but the loudest clashes of steel or yelled curses from Inuyasha and she knew she'd have to go to the door if she really wanted to see what was happening.

Bracing herself against the pain she gently pulled her left arm to her chest and pushed herself up from the futon with her right arm. Various wounds on her torso and legs stretched and pulled painfully but she ignored them and forced herself to an upright position before clumsily making her way to the door. Nearly tripping, she managed to catch herself with her right hand on the doorframe.

Raising her head she was now able to see that both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were cut and bleeding in various places and looked like they'd been going at it all day, which for all likelihood they probably had. She could see that Kagome was standing not far from the two with worried eyes watching her mate and brother in law go at it like they each meant to kill the other.

Turning her attention back to the battle she realized that they were indeed fighting rougher than they usually did. Deciding that she would have to put an end to this stupid fight she gritted her teeth and pushed herself off of the doorframe towards where Kagome was standing a good fifty yards away. However, before she had a chance to make it ten yards from the door she looked up to see Sesshomaru swinging Tokijin in a deadly arc that would surely leave a bloody gash across his brother's stomach.

"**STOP IT!!!**"

Her frantic yell echoed throughout the clearing as all movement seemed to stop as if by magic and all heads turned towards her. She would have sent them both icy glares worthy of Sesshomaru himself had a yell of that volume not drained from her the little energy she'd managed to regain over a day's time. Instead, her knees buckled beneath her and sent her crashing harshly towards the ground.

Expecting an impact with the hard ground, she was slightly thrown off as instead a strong pair of arms caught her gently and scooped her up against a strong chest. Weary brown eyes rose to meet blazing amber and she used this chance to attempt an icy glare. The snort she received from her rescuer told her that she had not succeeded in her attempt.

"Foolish wench. What were you trying to do, further injure yourself?"

Sesshomaru's cold tone once again hinted at worry as his eyes roved her form to see if she'd reopened any of her wounds. Pushing her weariness aside she scowled deeply at him and matched his annoyed expression with one of her own.

"What do you think I was doing you idiot? You two were trying to kill each other out here over something stupid! And how dare you call me wench you arrogant jerk!"

The fire in her town surprised even herself as she had not expected to have had the energy to put up a half decent verbal spar. The slight softening in her friend's eyes showed that he knew that she was right and could not stay mad at her for long.

"Come, I shall return you to the old woman's hut where you shall rest until you have fully recovered."

Wanting nothing more than to do just that she couldn't help the worry she felt over what might happen if she fell asleep again. Kagome said they'd been going at it since this morning so it was extremely lucky that they had not hurt each other before she woke up.

Looking back over Sesshomaru's shoulder she could see that Kagome had run to Inuyasha and examined his wounds before promptly sitting him and turning back towards the hut. A small smile graced her features before Sesshomaru entered the hut and her view was obscured. As he lay her gently back down on the futon she'd awoken on she caught a good view of the numerous bloody wounds that ran along his arms and chest. Many were now almost healed and were only obvious because of the bloody rips in his clothes but that was enough to make up her mind; she was not going to allow herself to sleep until she was sure the two idiots were not going to kill each other.

Sesshomaru moved to sit on the wall opposite her beside the door as Kagome entered followed by a grumbling and dirt covered Inuyasha. Neither brother looked at the other but she'd guess that they were both planning on continuing their fight the next chance they got. Instead, Inuyasha sat along the wall farthest from his brother and allowed Kagome to clean and bandage his minor injuries.

The urge to slap herself in the forehead was strong and only the knowledge that it would hurt more than it would help kept her from doing so. Was it not obvious that it was her own fault that she wound up injured? Apparently not since she looked up just in time to see Sesshomaru throw Inuyasha one of his famous icy glares. Decided that a topic change would be opportune she broke the silence that had fallen upon the hut.

"In a couple of days I'm going to head to my village to fix my slayer's suit and get another katana."

"What?!"

The simple statement did not seem to her to deserve such a strong reaction from both of the men in the hut. With slightly widened eyes she glanced back and forth between the half outraged, half disbelieving faces of Sesshomaru and Inuyasha who had both yelled the same word regarding her announcement.

"You idiot what makes you think I'm going to let you walk all the way to your village by yourself in the shape your in?!"

"Inuyasha is right, you have no business making a trip like that with your injuries still open and bleeding."

Mentally allowing her hand to bash repeatedly into her head she sighed as once again the brothers overcame their differences to team up against her. Why was it always her subjected to such cruel and unusual punishment? One pair of golden eyes glaring at you was bad enough but two was nearly enough to make you wish to fall upon your own sword.

"I'm fine you two! In a few days my wound will not be open and I'll be ok enough to travel. Plus, I'll take Kirara with me and ride her so that I won't have to walk or be alone."

This time Inuyasha scowled angrily while Sesshomaru outright growled at her.

"Do not lie Sango. You cannot hide the injury in your scent nor the pain in your eyes from me and I will not allow you to travel alone. Whenever you have fully healed I will accompany you to your village but only when I have deemed you fit for travel."

Sesshomaru's entire statement shocked her; not only was he going to allow her to travel to her village but he would accompany her as well. She knew he was very protective of her as his battle partner and the only person he'd ever even slightly opened up to, as she had opened up to him, but this was new and unusual.

"O-ok Sesshomaru, if your sure you want to come."

A curt nod was all she received from him so she turned her head towards Kagome and waited a few moments until her friend had finished binding the last of Inuyasha's wounds before speaking.

"Kagome, if you would not mind, could you accompany me to the hot springs? I am in desperate need of a relaxing bath."

"Ok Sango that'd be great. We haven't had any girl time for a while."

Smiling at the thought of their "girl time" and a nice relaxing bath she allowed Kagome to help her to her feet without too much difficulty. She winced as one of her knees gave out slightly and saw from the corner of her eyes that both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had moved forward to catch her but Kagome was there and steadied her slightly before shooting her a worried look.

"Are you sure you want to go now Sango? If your wounds are hurting you we should just wait and go later."

"No Kagome I'd really like to go and get the ogre blood off of me as well as whatever else I have on me after two days without bathing. I'm ok really my knee just gave out."

"But Sango the hot springs are a good ten minutes walk from here normally and…"

Kagome was cut off before she could continue speaking by Sesshomaru standing and sweeping Sango out of Kagome's hands and into his arms. Likewise, Inuyasha stood and grabbed Kagome off of her feet before she had a chance to question her brother in law.

"We shall accompany you to the hot springs and then you may call for us when you wish to return."

Before either girl had a chance to argue Inuyasha grabbed their "bath bag" that Kagome had prepared for the times that they went to the springs and both brothers flew out of the hut. The trip that usually took ten minutes took less than one with their demonic speed and both girls were gently deposited on the ground beside the springs before they knew what happened.

"Call us when you want us to come get you Kagome. We'll be close by to make sure you don't get into trouble."

Inuyasha called as he disappeared into the foliage along with his brother. Both had made a hasty exit before the girls could yell at them about man handling them or grabbing them without their permission. Sighing in defeat, knowing that it would be useless to yell after them, she set about carefully removing the white yakuta. Deciding to leave the bandages on in case she started bleeding again she slowly slid into the warm water and let it's heat soothe away her aches and pains. Feeling Kagome slide into the water next to her, she was just beginning to relax when a thought struck her.

"Kagome?"

"Yes Sango?"

"Where are our towels?"

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**a/n: Hehe... Not a cliffy unless you consider what Sango and Kagome are going to do to the guys as soon as they find them. Maybe that's why they ran away so quickly? lol... ^-^. So there you have it, chappy 2. Kinda a filler chappy but they are necessary sometimes to keep a good story going. Anyways, I'd once again like to thank my awesome reviewers that told me to continue this story and who did not review just to tell me that Sesshy was OOC(I appreciate it). Yall guys should know that I run off of your reviews and, after such a long time, its your reviews that have inspired me to continue writing again. Its all yall! So until next time...**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	3. The Great Escape

**a/n: Hey yall! Sorry it took me so long to get a new chappie up but I was so busy with finals and Christmas preparations that I've only just now gotten the chapter typed. I guess this can be my Christmas present from me to yall! ^-^! I'm gonna try to get another chapter posted before I go out of town and loose internet connectivity but I don't know if I'll be able to since we have to go cut wood today and I'm the one operating the chainsaw... sigh... **

**"Speech"**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA...............What? Did yall expect me to do something weird? ...nope....not today........(TEAR T.T!!! WHY!?)...hum, what? oh, nothing.**

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Chapter 3- The Great Escape

Her entire week had consisted of eating, sleeping, and sitting around Kaede's hut. Boredom no longer applied to her, as she had gone beyond that after only a day of Sesshomaru's self-enforced imprisonment. The great and powerful Lord of the West had spent the last five days sitting beside the entrance of the hut and glaring fiercely at her if she moved around the hut too much or even looked towards the entrance.

Her wounds were healing quickly due to the lengthy rest being forced upon her but the large gash down her left arm was still aching slightly and was still swathed in bandages as it had yet to completely close. So of course Sesshomaru could smell the injury and continued to tell her that she was forbidden to leave the hut to do anything other than bathe and even then he and Inuyasha carried her and Kagome to the springs before leaving as they'd done the first day she'd awoken a week ago.

Today, however, would be different. She would wait until Sesshomaru was distracted by Inuyasha or someone else and then she would take Kirara and sneak away towards her village. Of course she knew that she would not get far but she only hoped that with Kirara's speed that she could get far enough that Sesshomaru would see that going to her village would be more beneficial than going back.

Acting like she had every day for the last week she started the day with her usual yelling match with Sesshomaru who merely growled back at her as usual. This was primarily to keep up the appearance that she had nothing planned but she had to admit that arguing with him was starting to give her some kind of sick satisfaction. Finally deciding that she had enough arguing she stood and stretched the kinks out of her muscles by bringing her arms together over her head and stretching her spine as far out as she could. A pang shot through her arm but since her eyes were already closed she managed to conceal it by clenching her eyes more tightly together.

Bringing her arms down and opening her eyes she sent Sesshomaru a mocking smirk before turning and walking towards the corner that her normal clothes lie folded neatly in.

"Ok Mr. Babysitter you need to leave so I can get dressed."

The icy glare he shot her told her that he hadn't appreciated her comment but he stood and left the hut nonetheless. Grinning mischievously to herself she hurried to put on her traveling kimono and place her torn and ruined slayer's suit into her blue traveling cloth that she would tie around her neck before she left. Motioning for Kirara to come over to her she picked up her tiny friend and quickly whispered her plan into her attentive ears.

"So what do you say Kirara?"

"Meow!"

"That's my good girl."

It was then that Kagome burst into the hut with an annoyed expression on her face before running to the corner opposite the one Sango's clothes were in and grabbed her bow and arrows.

"Stupid retarded bear demons! They just had to pick now to attack the village, just when I was about to start on the laundry."

"What's going on Kagome?"

The young priestess seemed to have only now noticed Sango and a look of surprise passed across her face before recognition dawned upon her and she sighed heavily; Sango was usually one of the first to arrive at a fight and Kagome must have been so flustered she forgot about her imprisonment.

"Oh sorry Sango. There's a big group of bear demons attacking the west side of the village. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru are already there fighting them off though so don't worry. I'm just going to go help out and I'll be back in after I help Kaede with the injured."

"Ok Kagome, be careful."

She almost could not contain her smile as her friend ran out of the hut and towards the battle and as soon as her spiritual power was far enough away Sango laughed out loud and clapped her hands together happily. Shaking off her happiness she quickly ran to the corner to grab her supplies and weapon.

"Let's go Kirara!"

With an adorable mew the kitten ran outside the hut before transforming into her larger form and allowing her mistress to mount her before taking to the skies. The two companions had already discussed that speed was of the essence and so Kirara flew through the skies at top speed as Sango threw her head back and enjoyed the wind in her hair for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

"Just go as fast as you can for as long as you can Kirara and then when you're tired I'll run us from there."

The rumbled purr that came from the large cat's throat confirmed that she'd understood so Sango merely sat back and enjoyed the scenery while she could.

**(Back at Kaede's Village)**

Sesshomaru growled irritably. The battle with the bear demons had taken longer than he had expected since their leader was in possession of two sacred jewel shards. He and Inuyasha had teamed up on the leader after slicing their way through it's many subordinates. The leader, however, turned out to be quite the challenge since the two jewel shards healed any wound they made within seconds and they'd only been able to bring it down by shoving Tetsaiga and Tokijin through it's heart while Kagome shot out the two jewel shards with one of her sacred arrows.

The few wounds he'd received were already healing so he merely watched as his sister in law fussed over his brother's wounds with an amused smirk on his face. Inuyasha sent him a glare but merely sighed and allowed Kagome to continue with her ministrations. Deciding that he'd allowed his brother to be tortured enough he called out to the couple.

"Inuyasha we need to dispose of the bear demon remains before their residual demonic aura attracts other demons."

His calm statement shocked the two but Inuyasha merely nodded and told Kagome to go help the injured villagers while they took the remains to a nearby pit and burned them. Kagome merely nodded and turned to run towards Kaede to see what she needed her to do. Inuyasha watched her for a moment, his expression unreadable, before turning back to Sesshomaru.

"Ok Sesshomaru, let's get to work."

**(One hour later)**

The two Inu brothers stood a few yards away from the pit watching the flames as they consumed the bodies leaving only a trail of dark black smoke rising into the air. It had taken the two brothers a little under an hour to haul each one of the massive bear demons to the pit that lay about a mile outside of the outskirts of the village. Inuyasha was covered in bear demon blood while, as usual, Sesshomaru remained his perfectly pristine self. Inuyasha looked at him strangely and was about to ask him how he did it when Kagome's voice called out to them from the road coming from the village.

"Inuyasha! Sesshomaru!"

"Kagome? What is it? Is something wrong at the village?"

Kagome ran into Inuyasha before collapsing in his arms panting for breath. It was apparent that she'd run the entire mile from Kaede's village and both brother's watched her worriedly waiting for her to deliver whatever news was so important that she'd run the whole way to them.

"Kagome…"

"Its… S-Sango…She's g-gone…"

Gasping out her message, Kagome sagged back into her mate's arms and continued to pant heavily trying to regain her breath. Inuyasha watched her wearily for a moment before his golden gaze flew to that of his brothers'. Worry flashed across his face for a millisecond before an amused expression settled itself in his usually stoic eyes.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take before she would try to make her escape."

Inuyasha and Kagome, who had now regulated her breathing, looked at him incredulously. For the entire week they'd had to put up with he and Sango's arguing, Sango threatening to demolish Kaede's hut with Hiraikotsu if he didn't let her out, being carried to and from the hot springs and for what? So that Sesshomaru could amuse himself with her suffering? Kagome's expression darkened and her spiritual aura dropped to a dark foreboding level. Pushing herself off of Inuyasha's chest she was marching her way over to give Sesshomaru a piece of her mind when his voice cut through the dark atmosphere.

"Inuyasha I am returning to the old priestess' hut to check Sango's scent before I leave to retrieve her. If I am correct she will have left as soon as Kagome told her of our battle with the demons and she will most likely be near her village by now. I will not bring her all the way back to this village so we shall spend however long she needs to repair her possessions in her village. I must also go see Totosai on our journey back so do not worry if we have not returned within a week."

Kagome's aura had fallen back to it's normal level as she listened to what was possibly the longest statement she'd ever heard her brother in law say. Before she could recover from her surprise though, Sesshomaru had vanished from her eyesight as if he'd never been there to begin with. With his absence she finally remembered that she was angry at him.

"UGH! STUPID ARROGANT DEMON!!!"

**(With Sesshomaru)**

Easily running back to the village at speeds that made him only a silver and white blur to the normal human eye his sharp ears caught Kagome's loud exclamation despite that he was already standing in front of the old priestess' hut. Smirking evilly he entered the hut and looked to the corner to see that Sango's belongings were indeed missing as well as the stubborn woman herself and her neko.

As he'd suspected her scent was a few hours old meaning she had left as soon as Kagome had come to aid them with the bear demons. He could not help but think that killing the demons would have been much easier had she been there to aid them. Shaking that thought away mentally he turned and took to the skies on his white cloud. It would take him half the time it took Sango because he could travel much faster than her neko and he would not tire as easily as her cat would. He would venture to guess that with Kirara flying at full speed she could make it a little over a half of the way there before her master would have to travel on foot from there. He would fly until he caught her scent on the wind and then he would run from there.

As amused as he was that she had escaped he could not help but worry that she would get herself into some kind of trouble. He had come to notice that his battle partner seemed to be some kind of natural trouble magnet and it followed her everywhere she went. He, himself, had even been drug into battle more than once when they'd been training away from the village and her magnetism drew in more than one demon to their training area. He'd often wondered if there was something more to the slayer that lesser demons sensed that drew them to her but since he, the great Lord of the West, could not sense anything he had disregarded that possibility.

His thoughts on the matter were interrupted when he caught her scent on the wind but his mind was brought back to his contemplation as he also caught the scent of ogre demons not far from her. Quickly allowing his cloud of demonic aura to dissolve, he hit the ground at run and made his way towards where he could sense her aura clashing with that of the demons. Growling lowly in the back of his throat he swore to decapitate any pathetic demon that dared to injure her while she was under his protection.

He could hear the demons roaring that she and her friends had killed their leader and that they had come for revenge and he could tell from their scent that they were part of the group of ogre demons whose leader he had killed while protecting Sango just over a week ago. He smirked when she yelled back that they were pathetic bastards and that their leader was a disgusting pathetic… His brows knitted together as her retort was abruptly cut off and he knew that they had attacked her in rage.

Only a second later he cleared the trees and came into the small open area along the road to find that Sango was slicing through many of the ogres with her Hiraikotsu but her movement was restricted by her traveling kimono and he recalled that the primary reason for her trip to her village was to mend her slayer's suit. Without pausing he drew Tokijin from his side and immediately began to slice into the ogres on the furthest edges of the group.

"Sesshomaru!"

"We shall discuss your punishment for leaving without my permission later slayer. For now keep your focus on the pathetic demons that are trying to kill you."

He heard her snort as he turned to disembowel an ogre demon before slicing it in half and moving on to the next. His ears perked at the sound of ripping material and his eyes flew back to Sango just in time to see an ogre demon finish ripping off the bottom of her traveling kimono leaving her kimono now the length of Kagome's skirt. Sango flipped backwards now that she had more freedom of movement and managed to avoid the demon's next attack.

He watched as she looked down at the length of her now almost scandalously short skirt and her face became a bright scarlet red. Her brown eyes narrowed in fury as her head flew up towards the demon that had ripped her kimono and in a movement so quick that even he almost missed it she darted forward and sliced the head off the demon with a single swing of her giant boomerang.

The remaining demons turned to flee into the forest but the loud whirring of Hiraikotsu flying through the air caused them to turn and see the last sight they'd ever see; the huge swirling demon bone backed by the blue lightning of Sesshomaru's Dragon Strike flashed before their eyes before slicing through them and continuing on into the forest. The Hiraikotsu turned back at the edge of the trees and returned to Sango who caught it with a spin and slid back slightly at the force behind it after being pushed forward by the Dragon Strike.

Standing from her crouched position her eyes flew to Sesshomaru and she bit her lip nervously. She knew that he would catch up to her sooner or later but she hadn't actually put much thought into what he would do to her as "punishment." She was about to try to talk her way out of whatever he had planned for her when she noticed that his eyes were looking down. Confused she followed his eyes down and realized that her kimono was no longer covering her long scared legs. Embarrassment and shame shot through her as thoughts of Sesshomaru staring at the scars on her legs flashed through her mind and she imagined what he was thinking: ugly, scarred, horrid, pathetic, unworthy, imperfect.

Her thoughts weighed down on her consciousness and seemed to be crushing her but it wasn't until her knees collided with the dirt of the road and Sesshomaru caught her before she could fall forward that she realized that her shame had literally forced her to the ground.

"Sango!"

His voice broke through the heavy blackness that was trying to suffocate her and her vision cleared to see his silver brows knitted together and his golden eyes piercing deeply into her soul. All her sorrow and shame seemed to spill from her as blood from an open wound as those golden eyes once again viewed all of her darkest fears.

"You are uninjured Sango. What is it that plagues you so?"

A large lump formed in her throat and she couldn't have answered him had she even wanted to try. She could feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes but she ground her teeth and forced them down before Sesshomaru could see them.

The demon lord himself merely sighed before grabbing her weapon and slinging it across his back before scooping the slayer into his arms carefully; mindful of where his hands touched the bare skin of her legs. He looked down when he heard a faint mew and Kirara limped exhaustedly from the bushes beside the road.

"Oh Kirara! Come here girl."

The brunette in his arms struggled weakly in his arms to get down to retrieve her pet but was unable to do much other than wiggle. Had he been anyone other than his stoic self he would have rolled his eyes before walking over and kneeling to allow her to pick the small neko up and cradle her in her arms.

"She was so exhausted Sesshomaru. I hid her in the bushes before the demons attacked and I can't believe I was so out of it that I almost forgot her. What is wrong with me?"

"Come Sango, we are not far from your village and you need to rest before we talk about this subject."

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**a/n: Well idk wether or not to count this as a cliffy. Hmmm..? Oh well yall will just have to review and tell me if its cliffy-ish to you. Also, for all of my dedicated reviewers I'd like you all to go to youtube and look up "Imperfection" by Skillet. I think this song is PERFECT for this story and I will be using some quotes from the song in my next chappy so if yall want to be prepared and know what your reading go look it up. Chappy 4 will not be a songfic or anything like that but there will be quotes in like in the dialogue. Anyways, enough blabbing....**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	4. The Unexpected Visitor

**a/n: HEY YALL!!! Im sorry that I haven't updated in like 4ever! I know yall probly hate me but hey, at least I didn't end yall on a cliffy for such a long wait right? Eh..? ....Well anyways this chappy has been a long time coming and it is VERY VERY important to the rest of the story so plz pay attention. So! Who went out and listened to Imperfection by skillet? Cuz if you did you'll probly catch some of the lyrics in here but I was just a little bit sneaky with them(a little so not really). Anyways, I'll shut up now! ON TO THE CHAPPY!!!**

**"SPEECH"**

**'THOUGHTS'**

**DISCLAIMER: I DNT OWN INU/SESSHY/SANGO/ANYBODY ELSE IMPORTANT....i do own this one guy though(but i kill him off(again!) ^-^!)**

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Chapter 4- The Unexpected Visitor

The sky as far Sesshomaru's sharp eyes could see was a solid wall of dark gray clouds. The storm had blown in just as he carried Sango into her half demolished village and he was just barely able to enter one of the few huts that Sango had rebuilt that was livable before the rain started to fall. Said woman had fallen asleep in his arms with her hands wrapped protectively around her neko and had stayed asleep even as he lay her down on the spare futon she kept for whenever she stayed in her home village.

As the storm raged on outside through the night he'd watched her sleep restlessly. At one point she started to shiver and he was about to stand and get another blanket to put over the thin one he'd placed up to her shoulders when they arrived. However, before he could move to stand he heard a small mew and watched as Kirara wriggled her way from under the small blanket beside Sango's sleeping from and transformed into her larger, fluffier self before settling down behind her and wrapping her warmly in her large tail.

Even the icy demon lord couldn't help the small smile that graced his features at the touching sight. After everything they'd gone through together the two were the closest thing to a loving family that he'd ever seen. It was rare to ever find Sango without Kirara unless the tiny cat was playing with Shippo and the rest of the village children. In battle they always fought as a team and even when he had joined their team the two had been able to easily coordinate their attacks with his.

She was a ferocious fighter and an even better battle partner, ready and willing to give her life for his at a moments notice, but behind those fierce brown eyes lay a deep seeded pain that she tried to hide and was successful with all others but him. His mind wandered back to the horrible pain in her eyes as she stood before him and caught him staring at her legs. He couldn't help that his eyes were drawn to her strong toned legs and before he'd managed to shake his mind out of its stupor she'd caught him staring and from the look in her eyes she'd thought he was staring at her scars. He'd heard that human women were very sensitive about their looks but that had never been the case with Sango except when regarding the scars on her body.

He had decided that moment, at seeing the pain in her eyes, that he could not let this go on any longer and he would talk to her about it as soon as she awoke. He thought that she'd become accustomed to him seeing her scars in training but he'd never seen her in a skirt that short before. He cursed himself mentally for not realizing that in training he'd been so focused on the fight that he'd never looked at her other than in a calculating glare and that she was smart enough to see the change in his gaze. He very much wanted to just go out into the woods and destroy every demon and tree in the surrounding area but he would not leave her alone while unconscious and still not fully recovered.

His golden gaze flashed back to her just in time to see her sit up and stretch her arms over her head and yawn. He would never admit it to anyone and had only just come to be able to admit it to himself recently but he loved to be there when she woke up just to see the look of complete and total innocence in her eyes and face before her mind caught up with her life and her eyes became shadowed once again. Watching as said brown eyes blinked open wearily he waited intently for that flash of innocence and was rewarded for only a second before the innocence slipped away.

"Morning Sesshomaru..."

"Good morning Sango."

Her brown eyes had been staring intently into his molten gold since she'd awoken but they darted away for a moment, first to the flimsy mat that was covering the door and then to the roof that seemed to only barely be holding up against the force of the wind outside. A look of worry and displeasure crossed her face before her eyes fell from the roof to meet his once again.

"How long has this storm been going Sesshomaru?"

"Since I carried you into the village last night just before dusk."

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she hung her head and allowed her bangs to fall forward and shadow her eyes.

"Look Sesshomaru…"

"It is time we talk about this Sango. It is no longer just an emotional problem, it has started to affect your health as well and that I will not allow."

Her brown hair flew as she snapped her head up and her wide brown eyes showed an expression of complete shock. He may as well have smacked her across the face to have produced such a violent reaction.

"Sesshomaru I-"

"You are worth so much more than what you give yourself credit for. You want to be more like that whiney priestess of my brother's but you are much stronger than that. The weight of your own shame forced you to your knees less than a day ago when you have nothing to be ashamed of."

He paused for a moment to watch the emotions flying through her sparkling brown eyes. Tears had begun to form but she was not sobbing openly and only one lone tear managed to escape her thick lashes and fall smoothly down her face. It hurt him to see her crying but he knew that this was something she had to hear so he plowed on after only a moment's hesitation.

"Your scars show your strength as a warrior. You are a beautiful woman and the only reason that you do not have suitors lining up in droves is that even the pathetic human males know when they are outclassed. It is imperative that you stop letting your failures devour your heart and realize that you are drowning in your imperfections."

At this he stopped and merely observed as she seemed to absorb his words slowly and with a sort of reverence that came from their mutual respect for each other's insight. Her eyes were no longer filled with tears but the stain of the one that had fallen still remained on her cheek as a reminder to him that he had hurt her. An odd feeling clenched his stomach at that thought but he squelched it quickly with a vicious reminder of what could happen if she did not hear what he had to say.

"Sesshomaru."

The simple statement dashed his thoughts in all directions as he was unceremoniously brought back to the present. In her eyes he could see a steely resolve that had not been there moments ago and he knew that in some way he had gotten through to her if not entirely.

"You're right. You are always right. It's just that I have seen the way that men look at Kagome and the other village girls and I have never experienced that. I have always had scars, since I went to my first battle when I was nine years old, and men take one look at them and immediately loose their interest."

She could not meet his eyes while she was talking about her nonexistent love life because she knew he would not understand her need for a greater affection than just friendship could offer. She was sure he would not laugh or mock her for it, that was something the old Sesshomaru might have done, but she was confidant that she hadn't made enough progress towards teaching him human emotions for him to understand.

"It's ok though Sesshomaru. You've set my head back on straight and I realize that I don't need to worry about any of this for the time being. I've still got to help Inuyasha and Kagome find the rest of the Shikon no Tama before I can even think about going on with my life."

As she said this she looked up at the steely demon lord and smiled. The look on his face was measuring and she knew that if she even showed signs of regressing towards depression again that she wasn't going to get a talking to from _just_ Sesshomaru next time.

'_Ya, because those two idiots can only ever agree on anything when it's teaming up against me,'_ she thought exasperatedly.

"Well Sesshy, if you don't mind I'm going over to the weapons hut to work on my slayer suit."

She said this with such a happy tone that a passerby would never have guessed that she wore an eerily evil grin on her face as she said it. The moment of awkwardness between them was gone and their usual playful sparring banter had begun again. Of course, it went unspoken that her little "nickname" for him was never to be uttered to another sole for fear of death but Sango considered it something strictly between them regardless.

A look of sheer annoyance passed across his face and before he could move to stop her she had snatched up the bundle of traveling supplies she carried with her, her broken katana, and bolted out the door into the pouring rain. He watched her running until the rainy darkness swallowed her completely before turning back towards the pair of glowing ruby eyes that were watching him intently.

"Your mistress is a very strange human Kirara."

A mew that sounded very much like an agreement was all that answered him as he sat down beside the door and continued to stare out into the darkening skies that continued to pour out their sorrows to the Earth. He hadn't realized that it had gotten so late in the time that it had taken he and Sango to have their entire conversation; though it had seemed like a solid mass of tense conversation a good majority of the time had been meaningful silence as something greater than words themselves passed between them.

Molten gold scanned and analyzed every shadow that passed through the heavy rain and it was not until quite some time later that any shadow proved more than a small animal or wind blown mass of leaves. He could now see a light in the hut that Sango was indefinitely working in but he felt no desire to build a fire of his own until Sango returned and needed the heat of the fire to warm her rain soaked skin. There was very little dry wood left stacked on the side of the hut opposite him and since he had no need for a fire to stay warm he would conserve the little they had left.

It was now well past dusk and Sesshomaru guessed that there was only an hour left until the twilight was at it's fullest. It was then that he saw a slim yet upright mass slinking through the rainy night towards the light of the hut that Sango was still working diligently in. He could tell by the figure's gait that it was a humanoid demon like himself and not an entirely weak one by the size of its demonic aura. Suddenly the figure whipped around towards the hut that he was in, now in an easily maneuverable crouch, as if it had sensed him somehow but he had masked his demonic aura immediately after seeing the figure and he knew that it wasn't that.

Watching intently, Sesshomaru had one hand resting heavily on Tokijin. A quick sideways glance assured him that Sango had indeed left her weapon in this hut and had only taken the broken katana so that she could try to mend it. The figure looked at the hut for only a second more before turning back towards the light coming from the hut Sango was working in and slowly making its way forward.

It had a strong demonic aura that was poorly masked and he was sure that Sango had sensed him coming but he could still hear the faint hammering of steel that indicated she was still forging her weapon. He did not worry that she hadn't sensed the demon though, he merely worried that she did not have the weapons to defend herself in that hut. So it was with narrowed eyes and a cold scowl that the demon lord slipped out of the shelter of the hut and into the rain following the demon.

He wanted to attack before the demon made it into the hut and into a more narrow space to fight in but he was only half way to it before it opened the flap serving as a door to the hut and slipped inside in the time it took him to blink a raindrop out of his eye. No longer concerned about the demon hearing him approach, Sesshomaru crossed the gap in a matter of seconds and was throwing aside the flap just as a serious of load crashes reached his ears.

It took his keen eyes less than a second to register that Sango was not in nearly as much trouble as he had suspected, wielding two very deadly looking hand held scythes that were connected to each other by a metal chain, but she was not entirely uninjured either. He could see a bloody gash across her cheek where he was sure she'd only just dodged the demon's first attack and she looked exhausted and covered in sweat from working in the forge all day fixing her weapon.

Seeing that she was ok for the most part his blazing golden eyes then flew to the body that was now staggering up from a mass of splintered table that Sango had obviously kicked him into. His expression was sinister and a look of pure rage flashed through his eyes as he threw himself from the pile of broken wood and towards Sango with speeds almost equal to Sesshomaru's own.

Sesshomaru, though, was ready for that and had drawn Tokijin and stepped neatly between the two, blocking the sword that had suddenly appeared in his hands as if by magic. The blade was glowing an eerie green but he could sense no kind of poison coming from the blade. Instead it was like the blade itself was made entirely of the glowing green youki. In all his long years as a demon lord he had never seen such a weapon and the prospect of what it could do worried him.

_'I shall have to end this quickly.'_

Shifting his stance just slightly Sesshomaru was able to thrust the demon back with sheer strength before thrusting his own body forward to slice at the demon. Of course he didn't expect Sango to just stand around and watch but he was not expecting her to run past his left side and throw both of her handheld weapons at the demon's still reeling form. As both had suspected the demon was not weak and was able to right himself and block both of Sango's projectiles, leaving her unarmed. Sesshomaru threw her and almost reproachful glance before seeing she had already rearmed herself with two of the many unused weapons lying around the room.

Trying to take advantage of the demon lord's momentary distraction, the demon appeared in front of him using his demonic speed and slammed his glowing green sword into Tokijin that had appeared there to block only a millisecond before. Neon green sparks flew from the two swords as they clashed and for a moment Sesshomaru was blinded.

That was all the demon needed to send a vicious kick to his stomach that sent him flying backwards, through a table that had various broken weaponry scattered across it, and into the opposite side of the hut. Sango wasted no time in attacking; she knew it would take a lot more than that to kill Sesshomaru but she wasn't about to let this demon get another shot at him while he was down.

Sango now held two heavy fighting swords, one in each hand, and began a series of attacks and blocks, alternating which sword she attacked with ever so often so that the demon wouldn't sense a pattern in her attacks. Two weapon fighting styles had never been her forte, Hiraikotsu was her primary weapon and the one she was most versed in, but as a slayer she had learned every type of fighting style that her village knew of. She could have smacked herself for leaving Hiraikotsu in the other hut but she hadn't expected an attack of this kind in her old village and she'd been too distracted taunting Sesshomaru.

Suddenly she could feel her attacks slowing as the demon's sword pulsed black and she felt as if all the energy in every cell of her body was being stripped from her against her will. Trying to stop this unknown attack she stepped dangerously close to the demon and slammed the bottom hilt of her sword violently up into his chin before dancing back out of his range. She was surprised to see that her blow seemed to have had no effect other than angering the demon.

The sword pulsed black again and this time it was worse. It felt as if a part of her very _soul_ was being torn out of her body and she couldn't move to stop it. Another pulse and this time she actually felt as part of her spirit was pulled out of her body slightly before it snapped back into her. Her knees hitting the ground, she fell forward onto her hands and gasped for breath that would not seem to come to her.

_'Oh Gods I can't take another one of those pulses. I'm going to die and I don't even know how it's happening.'_

Just before she knew another pulse would be she heard a guttural snarl and a blur of white and silver whizzed past her blurring peripheral vision, slamming into the demon and knocking the sword out of his hand. She looked up to see Sesshomaru standing at full height, bloody gashes across his back and arms where he'd slammed through a table and into a wall, with his hand around the demon's throat glowing a sickly poison green. She heard him snarl and watched as he tightened his clawed grip around the demon's throat but did not release his poison.

"_**What did you do to her!?"**_

The snarled exclamation shocked her; she had never heard Sesshomaru so visibly angry about her battle injuries. Sure he had been angry and killed for her before but this was a kind of primal, instinctual anger that she had only ever seen when Inuyasha was protecting Kagome.

"Hahahaha! There is nothing you can do oh mighty powerful Lord of the West. Even if you kill me my master will have her and the power that she possesses!"

Had she not been so close to the brink of unconsciousness she might have been extremely worried by the fact that apparently some psychotic demon was out to get her and that his flunkies had some kind of soul sucking power, but she could only barely make herself focus on Sesshomaru growling fiercely before sinking his claws into the demon's throat and releasing his poison.

A moment later he was beside her scooping her limp, half-conscious form into his arms. He was supporting her back with one knee as he crouched with the other and one hand gently brushed her now sweat and blood covered bangs out of her face.

"Sango? Sango are you alright? What was that bastard doing to you?"

Feebly trying to keep her eyes open she managed to look up at him weakly and stare into his intense golden orbs that held so much worry and fear that she almost thought she was looking into Inuyasha's eyes for a moment until she realized that Sesshomaru could be himself around her when they were alone and that they no longer had company.

"I-I think… he w-was trying t-to… take my s-soul….."

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**a/n: hehehe! Ya I know! A CLIFFIE!!! I'm so mean aren't I? Anyways, those of you who think you found the song lyrics in the story leave me a review with a quote of from the story(please try to be specific and not a whole three or four sentences worth) and then a quote from the lyrics. Those of you who get at least 2 quotes right in the reviews will get recognition in the begining of my next chappy! ^-^! ...Well I will definately try to update much much faster this time so please be awesome readers(yall know what to do!)**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	5. The Transformation

**a/n: Hey yall! Sorry for keepin yall waiting for so long on a cliffy but I've had a LOT of stuff going on this month and it's been crazy. AGAIN. Oh and I would have had it up a few days ago but fanfic was totally freakin out and wouldn't let me save the document. But anyways, as promised I'm going to take the time to give props to ToFu since that's my only reviewer that found any quotes from the song Imperfection by Skillet. Congrats to ToFu and shame on everyone else for not looking! Kidding! (Or am I?!) **

**"Speech"**

_'Thoughts'_

_**'Inner Conversation'**_

**DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN INU......BUT I DO OWN THE NEW CHARACTER WHO YOU SHALL SEE IN THE CHAPPY THAT I DO NOT IMMEDIATELY KILL OFF!!! ^-^! (evil grin)**

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Chapter 5- The Transformation

Once again Sango found herself floating in an endless sea of black. Her mind had awoken a few moments ago but she was unsure how long it would take for her body to regain consciousness so she could talk to Sesshomaru about what that demon had said about his master coming for her and some mysterious power she supposedly possessed. Deciding that her time would be best spent trying to decipher the meaning behind the demon's cryptic statement she replayed the battle in her mind.

* * *

**Suddenly she could feel her attacks slowing as the demon's sword pulsed black and she felt as if all the energy in every cell of her body was being stripped from her against her will. Trying to stop this unknown attack she stepped dangerously close to the demon and slammed the bottom hilt of her sword violently up into his chin before dancing back out of his range. She was surprised to see that her blow seemed to have had no effect other than angering the demon.**

**The sword pulsed black again and this time it was worse. It felt as if a part of her very **_**soul**_** was being torn out of her body and she couldn't move to stop it. Another pulse and this time she actually felt as part of her spirit was pulled out of her body slightly before it snapped back into her. Her knees hitting the ground, she fell forward onto her hands and gasped for breath that would not seem to come to her.**

_**'Oh Gods I can't take another one of those pulses. I'm going to die and I don't even know how it's happening.'**_

**Just before she knew another pulse would be she heard a guttural snarl and a blur of white and silver whizzed past her blurring peripheral vision, slamming into the demon and knocking the sword out of his hand. She looked up to see Sesshomaru standing at full height, bloody gashes across his back and arms where he'd slammed through a table and into a wall, with his hand around the demon's throat glowing a sickly poison green. She heard him snarl and watched as he tightened his clawed grip around the demon's throat but did not release his poison.**

**"**_**What did you do to her!?"**_

**The snarled exclamation shocked her; she had never heard Sesshomaru so visibly angry about her battle injuries. Sure he had been angry and killed for her before but this was a kind of primal, instinctual anger that she had only ever seen when Inuyasha was protecting Kagome.**

**"Hahahaha! There is nothing you can do oh mighty powerful Lord of the West. Even if you kill me my master will have her and the power that she possesses!"**

* * *

She shivered at the rage in Sesshomaru's voice but focused intently on the demon's final words. Repeating them in her head over and over, she was still unable to find anything that would give her any kind of useful information. She was about to start reanalyzing the rest of the battle when her sense of sound suddenly came back to her. She could hear the fire crackling off to her right but the sound of rain hitting the roof had finally ceased. She could not hear any talking but that did not mean anything since Sesshomaru and Kirara were the only ones in her village and it was unlikely for Sesshomaru to talk to the tiny neko for long periods of time especially when they were likely both worried about her condition.

It wasn't long until feeling started to return to her body and the crackle of the fire was now accompanied by the warmth of the flames. She could feel the weight of the light blanket Sesshomaru must have put over her when he'd laid her back on the futon it seemed she'd only just gotten up from less than twelve hours ago. She knew of course that it must have been longer than that with the unknown time she'd been unconscious but she was really starting to get tired of being unconscious every time she turned around.

She heard a small mew and felt the scratchy warmth of a small wet tongue on her face and knew that Kirara must have sensed her consciousness returning. However, with her returning consciousness came the strange pain that seemed to stab through each cell of her body with a tingling pain that left her sore and uncomfortable in her own skin. Once again her mind was reminded of the fact that her soul had nearly been completely removed from her body and it was not something she relished to think about. Pushing the shiver that threatened to run up her spine back into the far recesses of her mind, she allowed a small smile to spread across her face at her tiny friend's lick.

"Well hello to you too Kirara"

Her voice stuck slightly in her throat, an indicator that she'd been unconscious for a while without water, but the happiness in her voice at seeing her small friend's big ruby eyes in front of her when she woke up couldn't be mistaken. She lifted her aching arm up and lightly petted her tiny head with two fingers. A loud purr started as she pushed up with the opposite arm while continuing to run her fingers across her companion's silky fur. Looking around she could see that she was no longer in the weapon's hut and that Sesshomaru was not in sight. Closing her eyes she concentrated on pinpointing his demonic aura but due to the aching in her body she couldn't seem to focus enough to tell much other than he was close by. Furrowing her brows at her inability to complete a simple task that she'd been doing since the age of seven she clenched her eyes harder and put all of her effort into locating his youki.

The shock hit her before the pain did but the feeling of electricity shooting from somewhere deep within her and striking every neuron in her body was not pleasant in itself. For a moment her senses seemed ten times sharper and with each heartbeat the strange aura that was shooting through her body shot out from her feet to form and invisible web along the ground through which she could see everything within it including Sesshomaru who was standing in a guard tower on the outer wall of the village. As soon as she caught sight of Sesshomaru's regal figure standing in the guard tower watching the area, in case another one of the mysterious demons attacked, the strange power snapped back to wherever hidden compartment within her that it had come from and the tingling pain suddenly became a burning flame. Almost before the scream ripped from her throat Sesshomaru appeared at her side and she was vaguely aware of his youki as she writhed and arched her back, all the while screaming in pain with her eyes clenched shut.

"Sango!"

"Mew!"

She could barely hear her companion's cries over the roaring in her ears but for some reason her mind was not slipping away towards unconsciousness. Instead, she was acutely aware of the pain in her body that seemed to touch every nerve and pain receptor. Thus, she was immediately aware when Sesshomaru picked her up from her writhing position on the floor because, no matter how gently he lifted her, he was adding pressure to her already screaming pain receptors. The scream that forced its way from her throat then was sure to have hurt Sesshomaru's sensitive ears but the pain soon overtook her rational mind and she barely heard Sesshomaru's yelled statement before the ringing became too loud.

"Sango I'm taking you to Totosai! He's the closest demon to us that could do you any good, just hang on until then!"

The air rushing past her cooled her skin and almost seemed to appease the burning on her skin but the fire within her remained scalding and soon she had screamed her voice so raw that sound no longer escaped her throat. Her fingernails were digging bloody rivulets down each arm and due to her hypersensitive skin she could feel the growl rubble through Sesshomaru's chest.

It seemed to her that only moments after he scooped her into his arms that he was lying her down on the cold stone floor of a cave, Totosai's she assumed, but her body was still writing and clawing. Even then she was still aware of the three demonic auras in the cave with her, two were her traveling companions and the third was the old demonic sword smith who had forged Tetsaiga and Tenseiga for InuTaisho all those years ago. The cold hands of the old blacksmith felt like a long drink of icy water after crossing a desert and her body calmed as his palm settled lightly on her forehead.

She thought that she was finally going to be allowed the rest of unconsciousness, and despite what she'd said earlier she would happily welcome the endless void of darkness after what she'd been through within the last hour, but what she was slipping into was not something she was familiar with. This place was covered in ice and was an equally welcome relief from the burning that she'd undergone since she'd awoken but now that the pain was not paramount in her mind she began to wonder where she could possibly be.

'_**Well you're in your mind of course.'**_

The voice that echoed throughout the icy cavern was that of a beautiful woman who was slowly approaching her from the other side of an icy lake, only this woman was tiptoeing lightly across the freezing water as if it too were frozen solid. She was clothed in all black, which was a stark contrast to the white and icy blue around her but complemented her ice blue eyes and long white hair nicely.

'_**Who are you? What do you mean I'm in my mind? How is that even possible?'**_

Sango's own kimono was no longer the pink and white one she normally wore but instead a dark navy fighting kimono with intricate white snowflakes lining the bottom edge and up the fitted side to cross her bosom in a flurry of white and blue so intricate that the design was lost on the eyes of mere humans. Her new kimono had no sleeves and was very similar to some Chinese kimonos that she'd seen in markets but where her kimono split to allow free movement of the legs she had tight white leggings that went down and vanished into boots that were very similar to the ones she wore with her slayer's suit only the usual pink was now replaced with a dark navy blue and the black boots went up to nearly her knees.

_**'It is very simple. The demon that attacked you spoke of your true power, a power hidden so deeply within you that only the near removal of your soul could release it from its' cage. When you tried to find your demon lord's youki you unknowingly unlocked the power at full force and you were clearly not ready for that to happen yet but, oh well it's too late to change it now the process has already begun.'**_

She almost could not believe what she was hearing. The demon that had attacked her had been right about her hidden power but how could someone possibly know about something she herself was unaware of?

'_**Wait, what do you mean the process has already begun?'**_

Her mind came to a halt as it focused on the last sentence that the woman had told her. She wasn't sure what kind of process it was but with as much pain as she had endured before falling into this strange icy realm she was sure it could not be a very good thing.

**_'Well your transformation dear. Then again if you didn't even know you had this power I'm going to have to start at the beginning and explain from there aren't I?'_**

Sango merely stared and nodded. The only kind of transformation she could imagine was Inuyasha transforming into a human on the full moons or………Or Inuyasha transforming into a raging bloodthirsty demon if injured to greatly and his life was still being threatened. The mental image frightened her and she wasn't sure whether she truly wanted to know or not. She knew, however, that with this strange new power came responsibility and she did not want to be left in the dark on anything, no matter how frightening the prospect might be.

**_'There is no easy way to put this Sango but you come from a long line of powerful sorcerers. They were so powerful it was said that they could transform a human into a humanoid demon with all the abilities of a full demon by birth. The females in your lineage were the sorcerers while the men became skilled slayers in order to protect the women while they were incanting. However, in the time of your great-great-grandmother one of the most powerful demon lords of that time got word of what your ancestors could do and sought to annihilate the entire clan.'_**

Here she paused and sent Sango a look as if to say "Does this sound familiar?" Sango's eyes widened as she realized that what happened with Naraku was very similar to the story that the strange woman was weaving. Could there have possible been an ulterior motive behind Naraku's slaughter of the slayer village that no one had known about?

_**'Ah so you see that what I am telling you has happened in the not so distant past as well. It is true that the hanyou Naraku knew about your village's true power and that is the real reason he murdered your entire family. I can see by the look in your eyes that you are wondering why no one ever told you about this power and why you haven't noticed it before now. Am I right?'**_

By now her eyes were wide and blank. All the little pieces of the puzzle that had not made sense before were slowly falling into place. She merely nodded at the woman's question and waited, intently hanging on her every word. As the woman spoke the ice behind her seemed to depict all of the people and battles she spoke of and the images were too real for her to hold any doubt about the truth behind the story of her ancestors.

**_'I'm afraid that the demon lord that found out about your ancestors power was a very cruel and arrogant demon and sent over a thousand demon soldiers to the village to wipe them all out. When your great-great-grandmother, the most powerful sorcerer of the village, realized that the slayer's stood no chance against the army that was marching upon them she decided that it was her duty to protect the people of the village with her very life. So, with the consent of the other sorcerers of the village, she drew all of their spiritual and mystical power into her own body using a forbidden spell and stood alone outside the village gates.'_**

Sango was no longer looking at the white haired woman but at the sad scene before her. A scene of farewell as her own great-great-grandmother, a woman who could almost be mistaken for her twin except for the icy blue eyes and strange kimono, said her last goodbyes to the villagers and gave a tear stained kiss to her love before walking outside the village gates with the heavy wooden doors slamming shut behind her. Sango could see her give one last glance towards her family through the small opening before the gates closed completely. The teary smile on her face was forever imprinted into Sango's mind and it was only then that she realized that she too was crying.

**_'As she stood alone outside the gate she gathered all of her power and the power of the rest of the village women and focused intently on a spell that had never before been attempted. When the army approached the village, each demon running full speed with swords drawn and fangs bared she chanted the last two words of the spell and a brilliant shot of blue light shot heavenward, blinding everyone in the village. When it was gone the villagers opened the gates and her husband ran outside to try to find her but could find no trace of her or the thousand soldiers. Instead, on what was just moments before barren battleground there were thousands of beautiful white lilies. Each of the petals had a single yellow stripe down the center and each flower had five petals. Her husband as well as the rest of the villagers knew she was gone but no one knew what became of the power, until now.'_**

Her mind was now in a sense of total and complete shock. The flowers that represented the thousand demon warriors, those were the very same flowers that Kohaku had given her long ago because he had known they were her favorite. Was it just coincidence that they were special to her or was it something preordained long ago when her great-great-grandmother had chanted the forbidden spell to save the village?

'_**Wait. If all this is true and the power vanished with my ancestor then who are you and why is this power suddenly showing up now?'**_

The woman smiled warmly and Sango relaxed slightly at seeing such a calm reaction to her almost accusatory question. She had just been bombarded with a huge amount of information on her life that she had never even dreamed could have happened much less have so much an impact on her own life.

'_**Well as for who I am that's simple, I am your power. Well, the embodiment of your power at least until you learn how to master it yourself. As to why the power is showing up now I am unsure of but I do know that your transformation is already nearly complete and thus our conversation must draw to a close.'**_

'_**What transformation? What am I transforming into? Am I still even human?'**_

The fear in her voice was evident and the woman smiled again but this time it seemed almost sad.

'_**I am sorry to say that your body the way it was could not handle the immense power that has now been awoken within it. The women of your village were raised from birth to adapt their bodies to housing the power but you were not granted that luxury. Your power is completing the transformation your ancestors performed on young girls whose power was too great for their human bodies without your bidding in order to keep you alive. Since you were not able to choose the type of demon your body would transform into your power utilized your memories to discover what type of demon you were most close to and thus which kind you would adapt to becoming faster.'**_

'_**You mean your going to turn me into a cat demon!?'**_

'_**Hahaha. Oh no dear, I'm afraid that little Kirara's form just would not suit you or your power. The only other demons that you are close to are the Inu brothers and their kind are proud, strong demons that fit our purposes nicely.'**_

'_**So your saying you turned me into a dog demon?'**_

For some reason the idea did not horrify her as much as she thought it would but it still disturbed her on some level. She was no longer human which meant she could no longer call herself a demon slayer, something that had been such a huge part of her life for such a long time. Without her notice, a lone tear made its way down her face and dripped onto the frozen floor.

'_**Do not cry Sango you are still a slayer. Did you forget that your village used to be full of women that had to become demons in order to control their power? They were fully accepted by the men in the village as well as everyone they did trade with. Oh but I must go now, your transformation is complete and your body shall be waking soon. Try not to take things too harshly and remember that your friends will be there for you no matter what.'**_

'_**Wait! You never told me your name.'**_

The entire icy area before her was beginning to blur and fade away before her eyes including the beautiful woman that had told her so much about her past. She had to strain her ears to hear it but the voice that answered her back was happy and laughing even as it faded away.

'_**My name is Sonya.'**_

'_**Sonya? Sonya wait! Sonya!'**_

"Sango! Sango wake up!"

Her eyes snapped open and a blur of silver and gold flooded her vision for a moment before she blinked twice and the image of Sesshomaru's face cleared to a point she had never before seen. It was almost as if she was seeing him with new eyes…..It was then that all the information came flooding back to her and she realized that she was indeed seeing him with new eyes; new demonic eyes.

"Sango something has happened to you and it is something that you may not like."

Sesshomaru's voice sounded almost apprehensive and she knew that he was worried how she would react when she found out.

'_Oh but I've already found out. The question is what am I going to do now?'_

_

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_

**a/n: ****Well there you have it; Sango's mysterious power! I know that's not a super detailed explanation about what the power itself is but yall will just have to keep reading to find out won't you?! LOL. Well I'm not too sure wether this is a cliffy of not.....eh? I'm gonna go with kinda since this chappy wasn't super actiony but yet was packed with valuable info. Once again, CONGRATS to ToFu!!! **

**Plz READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	6. Reflection

**a/n: Hey yall! I'm back with your next chappy with less than a month between updates! Yay! Well I got a suggestion from one of my anonymous reviewers that I should do a prequel to this story to tell all my awesome readers the details of Sango's past and her great-great-grandma. I'm not really sure how to make a poll on my profile so I'll ask yall here: do you think I should write a prequel about Sango's past to give you more details than just what I told you from Sango's encounter with Sonya? Neways, yall just leave me some reviews and let me know what you think! **

**"Speech"**

_**'Thoughts'**_

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inu, Sesshy, Sango, or anyone else but I DO own Sonya! Muahaha!!!**

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Chapter 6- Reflection

As the sun set slowly over the grassy hill to her west the strong wind that preceded the storm approaching from the southeast blew her now loose brown hair around her hunched form. The thick seam that she'd sewn to repair her kimono from the ogre attack a few days ago was scratching her thigh annoyingly but she ignored it as she stared blankly into the coming storm. Her new demonic senses were filled with the scent of rain and her sharp blue eyes could see that the oncoming clouds promised hail but she did not move from her spot on the edge of a grassy cliff. The steep drop off might have bothered her at one time but at the moment she was in a state of subdued numbness.

When she'd awoken after her transformation she hadn't paused for a moment to listen to Sesshomaru or even her own common sense but instead rose in one fluid motion and bolted for the door with speed that almost threw her off balance. Were it not for her slayer training she would have never made it out of the cave but by pulling from every one of her father's teachings she was able to regain control of her own body and make her way to the nearest stream at breakneck speed. Falling heavily to her knees she had to wait a moment for the ripples her hair had made when she flung herself down on the ground to recede and for the water to become calm so she could see her own reflection.

Eyes that were once a soft brown now shone the same fierce icy blue that she had seen on her great-great-grandmother. Her hair was now a shade darker but still brown and not the same inky black as Kagome's. On her once bare forehead there now sat a beautiful cobalt six-pointed star that seemed to glow with the power within her. The stripes on her cheeks looked very similar to Sesshomaru's own but were the same cobalt blue as the star on her forehead. She drew her hand to her cheek and rubbed her fingers roughly across them to make sure someone hadn't painted them on as some kind of horrible practical joke. Her new eyes were suddenly drawn to the long sharp claws that had suddenly sprouted from the end of her fingers. Drawing her hand in front of her face her eyes settled on it as if it were something alien.

"It will take a while for you to become accustomed to your body's changes Sango," Sesshomaru's voice said softly from behind her.

She jumped slightly but did not turn around to face him. Even with her new heightened senses she did not hear him coming. She wished so badly that Kagome were here so that she could throw herself into her arms and weep at what she'd lost but she knew that her power had transformed her to save her life and there was no use crying over something she could never get back; a lesson she'd learned the hard way time and time again.

"I know Sesshomaru it's just…a lot to take in."

She felt his clawed hand on her shoulder as he stood behind her and she could see his regal form reflected in the stream in front of her. The small gesture of comfort from him went several large bounds towards making her feel better without him having to say a word.

"Sango I need you to explain to me all that you know about why you are a dog demoness and what happened to cause this transformation."

His statement was not harsh or prodding but she still blanched slightly. She knew that he needed to know so he could help protect her from whatever psycho demon was after her power but she still couldn't help but be afraid what he might think of her afterwards. With a heavy sigh she reached up and grabbed the hand that was still resting lightly on her shoulder and tugged it gently to indicate that he sit down beside her. Her eyes clenched shut as she allowed her nose and ears tell her when he was settled beside her. Opening her eyes and turning towards him she sighed once more before beginning to relay what Sonya had told her just a few minutes before.

When she had finished she waited a moment for him to comment about her past and sudden transformation but when she received no response she turned her eyes from the slow moving stream to Sesshomaru's still from. His eyes were upon hers with a look so intense she was momentarily stunned. It was as if those piercing golden eyes were peering deep into her very soul. Unbidden, a large blush came to her face at the look in his eyes and the new animal instincts that had accompanied her transformation were telling her to flee.

"W-well I'm going to go think by myself for a little while."

Afraid to say more, lest she risk stuttering stupidly again, she stood quickly and fled into the forest at a dead run. She had run until she could no longer catch his scent in the wind and as she slowed she came upon a grassy cliff that overlooked a small valley with a river running down its center. Sitting down in the grass and wrapping her arms around her knees she gazed out over the beautiful valley and let the events of the past few days wash over her. She sat that way for a long while, letting everything fully settle upon her mind as the sun set and the storm started to roll in.

Sesshomaru had respected her need for privacy and although he had moved close enough that she could catch his scent on the wind, and so he could smell hers, he was still far enough away that she was still alone to think. It had taken her the entire day to sort through everything that had happened with the demon, her history that Sonya relayed to her, and the changes her body had undergone. As the sun started to set she blinked out of her meditative state and truly gazed out at the beauty before her. Her blue eyes flicked to the approaching storm and she inhaled the scent of rain deeply. Now that her initial crisis over her identity was over and she had accepted the "new and improved Sango" she was very much enjoying the things that the transformation gave to her that she now found her old body oh so lacking in.

"Do you plan to sit out here until the hail knocks you unconscious or were you thinking about coming back any time soon?"

An amused smile spread across her face as she recognized his attempt at their normal training banter. For a second she allowed her new senses to fully intake his scent and catalog it deep into her memory, as she would do to all her friends when she returned, so that she would never mistake her pathetic human memory of their scent for the robust clarity of smell that she had now. Sesshomaru smelled of earth, forest, and a touch of steel and blood.

'_He smells really good,'_ she thought offhandedly before turning towards him to address his comment.

"Well I thought I'd just test out my new body and see how much abuse it can take from mother nature before trying it out on the next group of demons that are stupid enough to attack us."

Annoyance crossed his face but she did not miss the small smile on his lips before a large splash of water hit her in the face. Bringing her now clawed fingers up to her face, and careful not to cut herself, she wiped the first raindrop of the storm off of her sensitive skin before looking up at the sky once again. Even the rain on her face felt so much different now that she was a demon.

Forgetting the man in front of her she gazed in wonder as the sky began its assault. Each drop that touched her skin felt like a gentle caress from a flower petal. So enthralled by the sensation she wasn't even aware that she was now soaked and that Sesshomaru was watching her intently until he spoke.

"Sango?"

At hearing her name from his lips she took her eyes off the sky and directed her wonder toward him. Her large blue eyes settled on his golden ones and despite both of their bangs hanging limply over them each could see the other's orbs.

"Sesshomaru have you always been able to feel the rain so intimately? I mean being a demon since birth of course you have but isn't it such an amazing feeling?"

His eyes widened with an emotion he could not quite name; surprise, awe, wonder, none of these seemed right but maybe a mixture of them all. Never before had he thought about the sensation of the rain on his skin being anything more than an act of nature and a natural part of life. Seeing the slayer he'd come to think of as his equal in battle finding something so simple extraordinary made him stop and take note of the feeling of the rain on his skin, as he never had before.

"Yes Sango it truly is."

As he watched the beautiful woman before him laugh as she danced in the rain he could feel a part deep within him that was long hardened, due to a rough life and the massive responsibility that had been dumped upon him at such a young age, at watching Sango becoming so happy after all she'd been through over something as simple as rain he felt that part shatter and begin to rebuild itself into something new, something softer and better. He stood in the rain merely watching as his battle partner frolicked around enjoying her newfound senses, senses that he'd had since birth and was beginning to see that he was taking for granted.

The pair could have stayed in the rain all night were it not for the flash of lighting and boom of thunder that momentarily blinded and deafened them. The tree closest to the cliff on the edge of the forest had been struck by the lightning bolt and was now tumbling towards them as flames billowed from its leafy boughs. Sango, who was not yet used to such blinding light hitting her sensitive eyes, had both fists rubbing her closed eyes furiously in an attempt to regain her lost vision. A strange emotion shot through his body as he saw the burning tree falling towards the person that he was only moments ago enjoying the sight of. A snarl ripped from his throat as he threw himself forwards just as she removed her hands from her eyes in time to look up at the burning mass that was about to crash into her.

The impact she was expecting did not come from above her but instead from in front of her as something strong and warm plowed into her and forcefully tackled her out of the way. Her sense of smell immediately told her that it was Sesshomaru and as her back settled into the mud she allowed herself a sigh of relief before opening her eyes and looking up at him. She was about to thank him for saving her but the sight before her froze her instantly.

Surrounding her was a curtain of dripping silver locks and from every direction it was all she could see from her peripherals. The man above her was not the stoic demon lord who she'd fought countless battles with. Nor was he smirking at her and prodding her about how she'd nearly lost her pathetic life to a stupid tree. The man above was almost unrecognizable as his smoldering golden eyes blazed into her. There was something in his gaze that sent a wave of heat throughout her entire shivering body and calmed her tattered nerves. A feeling of peace and safety overcame her with just one glance into those eyes and suddenly the fact that she'd nearly been crushed by a burning tree didn't matter anymore. She was now intensely aware of his position above her and the fact that his hips were straddling hers rather intimately. In that moment, however, she could feel none of her earlier embarrassment, only the warmth and safety she felt from his touch.

They stared into each other's eyes intently for a few moments and it was as if words were not needed to convey each other's thoughts and would only get in the way. His eyes darted down to her lips for a moment before returning to her eyes and staying there. Blue eyes softened as she caught his gaze and that was his indication that she did not object. Leaning down but continuing to brace himself above her with his strong arms he stopped just a breath away from her lips and paused, allowing her the final decision whether or not she wanted to meet his lips with hers. In less than a heartbeat she pushed herself up the final bit with her elbows and crashed their lips together in a searing kiss.

A feeling she'd never felt welled within her as she enjoyed every moment of her first kiss until both of them ran out of air, something that took quite a few moments longer since both were demons now, and had to break apart.

"Ses-shomaru," she breathed out as she fell back into the mud that was beginning to accumulate underneath her.

Sesshomaru himself seemed quite out of breath but recovered quickly. His eyes caught hers once more before moving to the muddy water beneath her and another crash of thunder caught both of their attention.

"Come Sango we have much to discuss but first we must get out of this weather before the hail hits and you need to get into some dry clothes."

She was confused for a moment, now that she was a demon the cold of the rain did not affect her nearly as much as when she was human, what could he possibly be……. A single glance down at her now completely translucent white and pink kimono told her exactly what he'd meant. The embarrassment she couldn't find earlier found it's way back with twice as much force and the blush that spread across her face was sure to alert every watching eye within ten miles of their presence.

Before she could bring her arms up to cover her practically exposed chest, and were it not for the bandages she used for support of her well endowed chest she would be completely exposed, he pulled her to his chest and held her to him with her feet a few inches off of the ground. A confused look crossed her face but he merely grinned at her and muttered, "hold on" before taking off towards Totosai's cave as a strange ball of light and demonic energy. Wrapping her arms tightly around his broad chest and pushing her face tightly into the soaking wet material of his shirt she tried not to scream as the strange feeling surrounded her for only a moment before it disappeared and she could feel the heat of the fire at her back. Slowly opening her eyes in case she was still somehow trapped in the ball of light she found that she was now clinging to Sesshomaru's chest in the middle of Totosai's cave with the old sword smith giving her a very strangely knowing smile.

"Totosai I believe father left a few extra robes in one of the side caverns he used as his room while he stayed here could you bring two of them out for Sango and I?"

The low rumbling in his chest that accompanied his voice entranced her and it was not until Totosai left to retrieve his father's garments and he spoke again that she could drag her attention away from the strong, warm muscle beneath her grip.

"Father's robes will be much to big for you but that is all I have here until your own kimono dries by the fire."

His voice drew her attention to his face and she was surprised to see the warmth in his eyes still very much there despite the fact that Totosai was entering the room behind them with the clothes in his arms. She had half expected him to toss her away from him or scoff at her for the ridiculous way she was clinging to him in front of his father's old friend but he did neither. Instead he held her to his chest with one arm and took the clothes from Totosai with the other. She watched as he nodded to the old demon that merely smiled a strange smile in return and turned to leave the room. When he was gone Sesshomaru dropped his arm from her lower back and stepped away from her slightly. Handing her the smaller of the two very large robes he turned his back to allow her privacy. Despite the large blush on her face she had no doubt that he would not try to peek at her as Miroku used to when she and Kagome were bathing. She trusted him and knew that he would not stoop so low.

Turning her back as well, to allow him privacy of his own to change out of his dripping clothes, she quickly stripped herself of her own soaked and muddied kimono before tossing it aside and drying herself with the lower edge of the large garment before slipping into it. Then again, falling into it may have described it better as she tried vainly to wrap herself in the oversized robes in a way that she could still walk without tripping and cover her body properly. Unknowingly she was uttering low growls of frustration and the low chuckles of Sesshomaru startled her for a moment as she directed her attention away from her fight with the clothing.

"What? What's so funny?"

Having heard that she was no longer changing Sesshomaru, after donning his father's old battle robes, turned to see her battling the mass of material in an attempt to make it fit her slight form. When she'd unwittingly started growling softly at the unyielding robes he could not help but chuckle at how adorable she looked and at how quickly she was starting to act like a dog demoness.

Instead of answering her question he walked over to her and grabbed a hold of the bottom of the robes and ripped a strait line across the bottom just above her ancles so that she could still move but maintain the warmth that the thick material provided. She merely watched him with wide, wondering eyes as he tossed the extra material aside and stood to his full height in front of her before staring down into her eyes yet again. He had much to tell her but he didn't know exactly where to start.

For the day that she'd been unconscious Totosai had told him much about her village's past and how his family linked to it. It was preordained long ago that Naraku would destroy the slayer village and the lone survivor would become the possessor of the village's great and thought to be lost Power. The prophecy said that an evil greater than Naraku would come and try to take the power by force but only the combined strength of the Lord of the Western lands and the Possessor of the Power as well as both of InuTaisho's fangs could stop this evil from devouring the earth.

As he sat and listened to Totosai speak of the prophecy and the horrible fate that would befall Sango if she were to fall into the hands of this evil force a horrible rage built within him and it had taken much of his willpower to force his inner demon back down and calmly listen to what the old sword smith had to say. He had to send Kirara back to Inuyasha to tell him what had happened in order to get the frightened neko away from his fluctuating demonic aura. It had taken some convincing but he'd finally managed to convince the kitten that he would not harm her mistress in his enraged state and she had finally flown off towards Inuyasha's village a few hours before Sango awoke.

When she'd awoken and immediately run to the stream to look at her reflection he had thought that she would not take her transformation into a dog demoness very well and that he would have to explain what had happened to her. However, when he asked her to tell him what she knew he found that she knew a lot of things that Totosai had not known or had not told him yet and by the time she stopped talking his mind was so busy working over everything that had occurred within the last twenty-four hours that when she'd told him she was going off to think by herself for a little while all he could do was watch her flee.

It was not until he watched her dancing in the rain and truly enjoying the gift of her new demonic senses that he realized his feelings for her. He was not so stupid as to think they had developed suddenly, he had felt them for quite some time but had always smashed them into the darkest corner of his mind by labeling them as stupid pinning after a human woman. Now that excuse was gone and watching her as she enjoyed a moment of completely pure happiness, something he'd only seen in Rin before he'd left her in the care of the old priestess Kaede, he could not deny what he felt towards the beautiful brunette that he'd come to respect so greatly as a human and now even more as a demoness without having to see her fight at all. When he'd seen the flaming tree falling towards her and her helplessly rubbing her eyes trying to regain her vision the demon within him thrust him forwards with a snarl and he knew that even his demon accepted her as his love and future mate.

The kiss they'd shared would be burned into his memory for the rest of his long life and the love he felt towards her flooded through him and exited through his golden eyes. He knew that his realizations were enormous and that he was probably getting ahead of himself but something within him told him that this was right. A warm hand on his chest brought him back from his reverie and his eyes focused on the tiny woman before him that was wrapped clumsily in his father's robes. Her face looked worried and slightly confused but he merely smiled and grabbed the small hand that was on his chest and wrapped it completely in one of his large ones.

"I have a lot that I need to tell you Sango."

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**a/n: Well that's it yall. I know that Sesshy's realization of his love for Sango seems kinda fast but you have to realize that they've both been slowly developing feelings for each other since they became battle partners(an undefined amount of time ago) and this is not really sudden at all. Maybe in my prequel(if yall think I should write one) I'll write about their developing relationship of being battle partners into how they are now? You'll have to review and let me know!!! **

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	7. A Powerful Display

**a/n: Hey yall!!!! I am so so so so SO sorry that I haven't updated in FOREVER!!! I have not excuses, evn though school is driving me crazy, but hopefully with summer comming up I'll be able to update more often. Well I'm not gonna keep yall waiting, ESPECIALLY since this chappy has the big unvieling of Sango's powers!!! ON TO THE CHAPPY!!!**

**"Speech"**

_**'Thoughts'**_

**DISCLAIMER: I DNT OWN INU! BUT YALL NO STEALLY MY NEW AND IMPROVED SANGO!!!**

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Chapter 7- A Powerful Display

After staying up the majority of the night telling Sango about the prophecy and trading information Sesshomaru was surprised to hear that the human turned demoness was already itching to train with her newfound abilities and power.

"Come on Sesshomaru you know demon's heal fast and you can't deny that my arm is fully healed! I am one hundred percent ready to train! Plus, you wouldn't want me getting into trouble just because I don't know how to control my own body would you?"

At that he had conceded and before the sun began to rise they both changed back into their now dry clothes and he led her out of Totosai's cave and into the large open meadow in front of it. This would serve as a suitable training ground in teaching her and discovering her new demonic powers. He would be unable to teach her anything about her sorcery but demonic abilities were his forte.

He wondered what her singular ability would be. Each demon had a certain ability that was singular to them alone; his being his acid whip, and Inuyasha's the Iron Reaver Soul Stealer. He found himself curious as to what Sango's would be seeing as she was not born a demoness and most demonesses lost their singular abilities due to a pampered life without fighting. He did not doubt that Sango could control her abilities he was simply worried due to his lack of knowledge of what truly happened during her transformation.

As he stood across from her in the meadow he could not help but admire how the rising sun shone off her hair and made it appear almost golden. Refocusing on the demonic parts of her body he began to formulate a list in his mind. For the most part Sango would have to discover her demonic abilities on her own but he would aid her in the first part of her training to get her started.

"Ok Sango you must first focus on your demonic aura. Let it loose to flow through your body as freely as you can."

She nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate on her new aura. Sesshomaru watched intently as the majority of her aura floated towards the palms of her hands. That told him that whatever her demonic ability would be it's focal point would be her palms.

"Now Sango can you feel the demonic aura pooling primarily in your palms?"

"Yes," she said as she clenched her eyes tighter and focused harder.

"You must concentrate on the aura in your hands. Focus only on that aura and try to feel what your own body is telling you."

As he stood watching, a cobalt colored blob of energy began to form in each of her hands. The cold he could feel emanating from the energy surprised him as the meadow around them became noticeably colder. His gold eyes widened as the harder she focused on the aura in her hands the larger the cobalt energy ball became and the lower the temperature around them dropped. He was about to step forward to tell her to stop when her eyes suddenly snapped open and all he could see was the glowing cobalt blue that covered her whole eye. Unlike Inuyasha's demonic transformations Sango's eyes did not have a pupil but instead looked like a deep pool of frozen water as her gaze flicked to him.

He was unsure whether or not she was still in conscious control of her body or if he'd pushed her to far on her first day of training so he approached her wearily. He was not worried that she would hurt him but he knew that if he was forced to restrain her she would most likely cause herself some kind of bodily harm and that thought unsettled him.

"Sango? Can you hear me Sango?"

She did not speak but merely nodded slowly as if she were in some kind of a daze. However, as he stepped closer her body tensed and the glowing orbs in her hands brightened threateningly. He froze midstep and almost flinched as the atmosphere around them dropped another ten or more degrees. What was once a nice summer day was now at temperatures near freezing in the meadow around them and the grass beneath their feet was slowly starting to whither and die.

"Sango it is Sesshomaru. I need you to calm down and release your concentration on your aura so that you can come back to me."

Her muscles relaxed slightly as if she were contemplating what he'd said when suddenly Inuyasha burst through the brush at the edge of the clearing with his aura flaring with worry. Sango's completely cobalt eyes flew towards the new demonic aura that was now flying towards her before they widened with fear and the glowing balls in her hands exploded.

Sesshomaru had felt her aura spike and was moving towards her to try to prevent her from reacting instinctively to the new threatening aura, in her state Sango would not be able to sense the difference between the anger and worry in his aura, when the cobalt orbs exploded. His body was hit with a huge wave of frozen snow and ice that sent him spiraling backwards and into a tree at the edge of the clearing. The hard impact momentarily knocked the breath out of him but he was up on his feet only a moment after and running back towards the epicenter of the explosion.

There was no way to tell what would happen to Sango at using her new powers to such a magnitude without her knowing how to control them. It was a possibility that her own power could kill her and that thought sent a horrible shot of adrenaline into his stomach that almost made him sick.

"Sango!!!"

He found her lying in a pile of snow that had not been there seconds earlier. Dropping to kneel beside her he immediately began to check her body for damage. However, other than some nasty burns on her palms her body was completely unharmed from the large explosion. Seeing that she was unconscious though he picked her up into his cut and bleeding arms before standing and looking around for Inuyasha. He wanted to give his stupid younger brother a piece of his mind for jumping into the meadow like that especially when he could sense Sango's aura fluctuating so wildly.

He found his brother's unconscious form lying at the base of a tree just outside the clearing and decided that his foolishness earned him the right to remain there until his mate came and drug him into Totosai's cave herself. Kirara's scent, as well as the priestess' and the monk's, was not far and he knew that he would not have long to wait before his brother was recovered and ready to annoy him with millions of questions.

Mentally shaking his head, he turned and left the still frosty meadow and made his way back into the cave at its other end. He was still worried about Sango but her steady heartbeat against his chest calmed him slightly. As he lay her down on the futon she'd used while undergoing the transformation he marveled at the amount of power she'd been able to call upon without any training with it whatsoever. The ability for dog demon's to control the element's was rare, his mother had been the first demoness to be able to do so in more than four hundred years, and for Sango to be able to change the temperature in the clearing by more than sixty degrees in a matter of minutes he knew that she would be a very powerful elemental.

Looking down at his arms he was surprised to see that they were still bleeding and that his demonic healing had for some reason seemed to slow to that of a normal human's. Narrowing his eyes he studied one of the deeper gashes on his arms only to find that some of Sango's residual demonic aura was still within the wound keeping it from healing. His eyebrows rose in surprise at the possibility of what Sango could do whenever she gained control over all of her powers.

As intrigued as he was by Sango's potential he was highly irritated that his own aura could not overpower hers to make his body begin it's demonic healing again. Annoyed at his own body he decided to ignore his injuries for the time being and go check on his little brother to make sure that his half demon body was not seriously injured by Sango's attack.

"Totosai I am going outside to retrieve Inuyasha from the brush. I will return momentarily. Watch over Sango while I am gone," he said in a voice just above that of his normal volume.

The old sword smith called out a muffled reply as he put down the sword he was forging and made his way back into the main cave and over to the fire to stir the stew he'd started when Sesshomaru and Sango had left to train. Sesshomaru sent his father's old friend one last glance before heading out into the meadow to find Inuyasha. His golden gaze swept across the meadow taking in the fact that despite Sango's absence the temperature in the meadow had only gone up a few degrees in the last hour. The ground was still covered in about a foot of snow and the trees looked frosted completely on one side.

Hearing a moan from the direction that he'd left his younger brother earlier Sesshomaru turned his attention away from the meadow and started walking towards the brush. He arrived to find Inuyasha sitting up and moaning with one hand on the rather large bump on his head. Sesshomaru looked him over and saw that much of Inuyasha's injuries were almost identical to his own, something he had expected, however the injuries Inuyasha had sustained did not seem to be filled with Sango's residual demonic aura and they were healing at their normal hanyou speed. His mind ran through the possibilities of why his superior healing was halted while Inuyasha's was not. The only reasoning that made sense was that Sango was born a demon slayer and that while she was now a demon herself slaying was in her blood. Therefore her newfound demonic abilities were geared towards damaging demons as much as possible and minimizing their harmful effects on humans. Since Inuyasha was half human he was not as affected by Sango's attack.

"Inuyasha."

"Wha? Huh? Sesshomaru? What the hell just happened?! Where's Sango?!"

As he watched Inuyasha's expressions change from blank to confused to angry to worried he almost broke into a grin but composed himself by reminding himself that this was not Sango he was speaking to; he did have a reputation to maintain after all.

"Come Inuyasha we can speak in Totosai's cave. We have much to talk about. Including the fact that you burst into the clearing that Sango and I were clearly training in with your aura flaring."

The confusion and worry did not leave Inuyasha's eyes but as soon as gold met gold his younger brother stood without another question and they headed back towards the cave. He did not miss the limp in Inuyasha's step as they made their way back across the snowy meadow but it did not seem to bother him very much so he did not inquire about it. Besides, he was still angry that Inuyasha had caused the explosion that injured Sango, he, and the hanyou himself.

Seeing the entrance of the cave approaching his gaze swept over to his brother and for a moment he wondered how much he had understood from Kirara. Deciding that there was no use delaying the inevitable he kept walking until they both stood just in front of the fire. He was relieved to see that Sango was already awake and ravenously devouring the stew that the old sword smith had cooked as if she hadn't eaten in days. Noting that the burn wounds on her hands were not healed but did not seem to be bothering her, he watched as Sango paused in her eating at hearing Inuyasha's small gasp of surprise.

Her big blue eyes looked up in surprise and for a moment they seemed to glaze over slightly as if she were remembering some distant memory. Her eyes suddenly refocused and immediately widened as she looked over the two brothers in front of her covered with wounds that were not there earlier. Dropping her empty bowl at her feet she was around the fire and clutching at Inuyasha's neck in less than a second.

Both men were staring at her strangely and it was only when she started sobbing that both seemed to soften and relax. Inuyasha lowered his arms, since they had flow up to catch the flying girl, and hugged her gently trying to comfort her. He looked towards his brother with a somber look as he inhaled her now fully demonic scent. His attention was brought back to her when she pulled back away from him and her dark blue tear-filled eyes caught his gold.

"Inu-yasha…I'm…I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Don't worry about it Sango. It's fine. Nothing I can't handle," he said trying to brush it off with his usual brash, cocky attitude to make her feel better.

Next her eyes shifted to Sesshomaru whose wounds were still bleeding slightly and her eyes filled with a fresh wave of tears. She removed herself from Inuyasha's grasp and took a hesitant step towards Sesshomaru as if he would somehow reject her after what she'd done.

"Sesshomaru…"

Hearing his name come from her lips in such a tortured and hopeless way made him cringe inwardly. She sounded broken, much like she had when she'd told him of her failed attempt at love with the worthless monk. Did she truly think that he would no longer love her because of something that was his fault in the first place? Deciding that it didn't matter he took the initiative and strode one long step forward to engulf her in his embrace.

Her tiny form seemed to collapse into his as he wrapped his arms around her and brought her sobbing form to his chest. Something deep within him ached at the smell of her tears and he knew that there was nothing she could do to change the way he felt about her. He regretted pushing her so hard on their first training exercise but he never thought that she could draw upon such a great deal of power with absolutely no training.

"Sesshomaru…Please, please forgive me…I'm so sor-"

He cut her off mid sentence by placing a single clawed finger on her quivering lips. Teary blue eyes looked up at him in question and, ignoring the fact that his brother was watching them, he lowered his head and gently kissed her lips. He was not entirely comfortable with displaying such affections in front of his long hated younger brother but they were on better terms now and Sango needed every bit of comfort that he could give her; not that he planned on making this a habit.

'_It's my fault this happened in the first place,' _He thought distractedly.

However, his kiss seemed to calm her completely and her tears immediately ceased as she wiped the back of her hand across her eyes to rub them away. Sniffling slightly she looked down at one of the large gashes on his arm before shifting her eyes to his other various wounds. She seemed to study them for a minute before lifting her still tear stained face and slightly puffy eyes up to his face.

"I think I can fix this but it may hurt."

He merely squeezed her waist gently to show his acquiescence. Watching her curiously he was amazed to see her rest her hand gently over the largest of his wounds before closing her eyes and concentrating. A sudden stinging sensation went through his body as her residual demonic aura that had been sitting in his various wounds made it's way through his body and towards the hand that was resting on a gash. As the aura left his wounds they immediately stopped bleeding and he could feel his demonic healing start up again.

He could see Inuyasha out of the corner of his eye and a small smirk came over his face at the expression of complete awe his brother now wore. He was unsure whether the look was from his open display of affection towards her or her newfound power, however, he was certain that he would be questioned about both later. He himself was amazed at Sango's control but he was much more in control of his emotions than Inuyasha and to be fair he had been slightly more informed on what she could possibly do so his expression remained neutral as usual.

Drawing his concentration back to Sango he could see the aura she was drawing out of him was slowly building around her to form a dark blue cloud. Through her aura he could feel her worry, sadness, fear, and most of all shame at what she had done despite the fact that she was no longer openly sobbing. He knew that they would need to have a talk later but now was not the time with Inuyasha openly gaping at them. Besides, he could feel the last bit of her youki leaving his body and he was ready as her body sagged against his.

It didn't surprise him that she was exhausted but despite it all she remained awake and conscious as he carried her back to her futon by the fire. Moving over he picked up her forgotten bowl and scooped two big spoonfuls of stew into it before handing it back to her. He was warmed by the grateful smile she gave him before picking up her spoon and beginning to devour it once again. Hearing a gruff laugh from Inuyasha he looked over to see the hanyou nearly rolling on the floor at the sight of his sister eating almost as brusquely as he did. Rolling his eyes, Sesshomaru grabbed a clean bowl and lobbed it across the fire to hit the laughing man directly in the face.

"Hey!"

"Eat your fill Inuyasha for when your mate and Kirara arrive there is much to discuss. You and I shall be training twice as hard for the battle that is to come so conserve as much energy as you can. You will need it."

Inuyasha's mood immediately sobered and he sent his older brother a look that told him he was ready to protect his little sister from whatever psycho was after her. Deciding to listen to Sesshomaru's advice he did not ask any questions but instead moved forward to scoop as much stew as he could fit into the bowl into his before grabbing a spoon and sitting back to dig in. All three demons could smell the wonderful cooking at it hadn't taken them any time to each be eating their own respective bowls. It hadn't taken long for Sango to go from depressed to laughing as Inuyasha practically flung the food everywhere in an attempt to get it to his mouth faster. She knew that he was probably just putting on a show to make her laugh, seeing as he was being even messier than usual, but she could not help but feeling more light-hearted at the sight of her brother figure.

As she began to get full she started to wonder where Totosai had wondered off to after she had awoken. Only staying for a few moments to dish out her dinner, the old sword smith had retreated back into his forge room and hadn't come out since. Pausing to focus on her newly enhanced hearing she only had to wait a moment before the sound of hammering steel reached her ears. Curious as to why he would be working on a new sword at a time like this she finished up her food and turned her attention towards Sesshomaru.

"Sesshomaru," she paused for a moment for him to look at her, "what is Totosai doing making a new sword?"

His golden eyes seemed to darken momentarily before returning to their normal color so quickly that she almost missed it. She was sure that if she still had her human eyes she would have.

"He is forging you a new sword Sango; one that you can use with both your demonic and spiritual abilities. Yet another part of the prophecy that I spoke to you about this morning."

For a moment she was completely dumbstruck. Totosai, the demon that had forged the greatest of swords like Tetsaiga, Tenseiga, and Tokijin, was making her a sword. She was honored but worried at the same time. If the upcoming events prompted Totosai to forge yet another amazingly powerful sword what exactly were they up against.

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**a/n: Well there yall go! There's your first little glimpse of Sango's newfound demon powers. I sure hope that it was worth yalls super long wait. Oh by the way I still need your opinions on whether or not to make a prequel to this story to give you the good details on Sango's g-g-grandma. Well I hope to get the next chappy up way sooner than this one! Please just stick with me my awesome reviewers!!!**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW!!!**


	8. The Traitor

**a/n: Hey yall! I know it's been literally FOREVER since I've uploaded and I've got to say I'm really sorry. I honestly didn't realize it's been this long but the summer's gone by so fast. It's not like I haven't been writing, I just haven't been writing fanfic. I've been working on the book that I hope to get published one day about angels and demons and I've got nine 5,000+ word chapters right now. I start college in August and since I'm majoring in Biochemistry I won't have time to write like I used to. So, desperately, I'm going to try to finish this story before I go. That means maybe five more chapters at max but at least I won't leave yall hanging. Well I'll try not to. But neways, I'm sorry it's been forever and hopefully I'll update again within the week. ENJOY THE CHAPPY!**

"Speech"

_**"Demonic Speech"**_

_'Thoughts'_

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN INUYASHA... T.T!**

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**Since it's been so long here's a little look at last chapter...**

_**-LAST TIME-**_

_"Eat your fill Inuyasha for when your mate and Kirara arrive there is much to discuss. You and I shall be training twice as hard for the battle that is to come so conserve as much energy as you can. You will need it."_

_Inuyasha's mood immediately sobered and he sent his older brother a look that told him he was ready to protect his little sister from whatever psycho was after her. Deciding to listen to Sesshomaru's advice he did not ask any questions but instead moved forward to scoop as much stew as he could fit into the bowl into his before grabbing a spoon and sitting back to dig in. All three demons could smell the wonderful cooking at it hadn't taken them any time to each be eating their own respective bowls. It hadn't taken long for Sango to go from depressed to laughing as Inuyasha practically flung the food everywhere in an attempt to get it to his mouth faster. She knew that he was probably just putting on a show to make her laugh, seeing as he was being even messier than usual, but she could not help but feeling more light-hearted at the sight of her brother figure._

_As she began to get full she started to wonder where Totosai had wondered off to after she had awoken. Only staying for a few moments to dish out her dinner, the old sword smith had retreated back into his forge room and hadn't come out since. Pausing to focus on her newly enhanced hearing she only had to wait a moment before the sound of hammering steel reached her ears. Curious as to why he would be working on a new sword at a time like this she finished up her food and turned her attention towards Sesshomaru._

_"Sesshomaru," she paused for a moment for him to look at her, "what is Totosai doing making a new sword?"_

_His golden eyes seemed to darken momentarily before returning to their normal color so quickly that she almost missed it. She was sure that if she still had her human eyes she would have._

_"He is forging you a new sword Sango; one that you can use with both your demonic and spiritual abilities. Yet another part of the prophecy that I spoke to you about this morning."_

_For a moment she was completely dumbstruck. Totosai, the demon that had forged the greatest of swords like Tetsaiga, Tenseiga, and Tokijin, was making her a sword. She was honored but worried at the same time. If the upcoming events prompted Totosai to forge yet another amazingly powerful sword what exactly were they up against._

_**-END-**_

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Chapter 8- The Traitor

When Kagome, Miroku, and Kirara arrived Inuyasha had been quick to demand an explanation from Sesshomaru. She couldn't help but sigh at the fact that as usual he seemed intent that it was something his brother could have prevented and thus placed all blame on him until the story was told.

She was worried that her friends would not accept what she'd become and thus the entire time Sesshomaru explained she kept her eyes glancing back and forth between them. Sesshomaru seemed to notice her discomfort and unobtrusively slid his hand into hers without pausing in his story. She couldn't help but smile at his sweet gesture but did not move her eyes down to their joined hands to make it obvious what they were doing.

Inuyasha had reacted as usual, an annoyed glare that soon turned to interest as her unknown history unfolded. Kagome, honestly the one she was most afraid wouldn't accept her, had broke out in tears at her great-great-grandmother's story and moved over to hug her a few different times throughout the telling. Kirara was never a worry in her mind for her neko loved her more than anything and being a demon herself would have no problem with her mistress' transformation. Strangely though, it was Miroku, the one who she least expected to react badly, that seemed to take the information and her new appearance the worst.

After ensuring that Inuyasha and Kagome were ok with the new her she'd shifted her sole focus to Miroku who she'd noticed had been sending her strange glances since he'd arrived on Kirara. It was odd the way his eyes seemed to stare at her as if she were now horribly disfigured. She did not miss the way he sat furthest away from her and Sesshomaru around the fire, something she'd first attributed to he and Sesshomaru's bad blood but now wasn't so sure of, and how he'd kept a tight grip on his staff since he'd arrived.

However, since neither Sesshomaru nor Inuyasha seemed to notice the strange looks he was sending her she brushed it off as her imagination. As the conversation shifted to Sesshomaru's plan for he and Inuyasha's training she stood and pulled Kagome off to the side.

"There's a rather large hot springs in the back of the caves if you'd like to accompany me Kagome."

"Oh yes! You have no idea how much I could use a nice hot bath," said Kagome before she ran over to her large yellow backpack that she'd dropped at the cave entrance and grabbed her bath bag and two towels.

"Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, we're going to the hot springs for a little while if you need us," she called out as Kagome came up beside her and handed her a towel.

"Very well. Inuyasha and I are going out to train for a short time but we will be close by."

Waving languidly over her shoulder as she and Kagome both turned their backs to them and headed off in the direction of the hot springs. They passed by Totosai's forge and noticed the old demon was still hammering away on Sango's new weapon. She was unsure how she felt about using any weapon other than Hiraikotsu as a primary weapon but shrugged deciding it could never hurt to carry two powerful weapons around in case she were ever to loose one of them; as she had in the battle with the ogre demons.

When they reached the hot springs in the furthest room-like area within the cave they quickly shed their clothes and slid into the hot water. She audibly sighed as her new senses allowed her to take in the hot water's effect on her stiff muscles as she never had before. In that moment she decided she'd have to make a lot more trips to the hot springs now that she was a demon.

But even as her body relaxed she couldn't get her mind off of the looks Miroku had been sending her the entire time they'd been in the cave talking. Did he hate her now that she was a demon? It was true that as a monk he was obligated to slay any evil demons that threatened humans but he'd never had a problem with Inuyasha and she would never be a threat to humans since she'd been one herself. Deciding that she couldn't contain her suspicions anymore she turned to Kagome who had her eyes closed and spoke softly.

"Kagome, did you find it at all strange the way Miroku has been acting since you arrived to find out I was a demon?"

"To tell you the truth Sango I didn't really notice that much other than the fact that his aura seemed off for some reason. Why? Did he seem different," Kagome asked as her now open honey eyes shone with concern.

"Maybe I'm just overreacting but it seemed like he kept giving me strange looks the whole time. Not really a glare so much as it looked like he was sizing me up to see if he could take me on in a battle."

"I'm sorry Sango I didn't notice him looking at you that way. Maybe you should take him aside and talk to him about it later?"

"Hmm."

After that conversation drifted off and soon they were soaking up the hot water in silence once more. Soon the heat grew too much for Kagome so both girls stepped out of the water and toweled themselves off before redressing and wrapping the towels around their long wet hair. Making their way back to the main room they found only Miroku and Kirara sitting by the fire. To her surprise Kirara was not sitting near Miroku as she usually did but instead on the opposite side of the fire with her big red eyes staring intently at him. So she wasn't the only one to notice Miroku's odd behavior. In that moment she decided that they definitely needed to talk.

However they'd been in the springs longer than she'd guessed and it was already time for dinner. The sun was beginning to set and the boys were coming back in from their training. Since none of them had prepared dinner they would be having leftover stew, which she had no problem with since she'd found out earlier that Totosai was a very skilled cook.

Before going over to the fire to get her food she flipped her head upside down and rubbed the towel around on her hair to dry it a little more before removing it and flipping back upright. Moving over to Kagome's bag she grabbed a brush from it and tried to comb her long dark hair as quickly as she could. After she finished she tossed her towel onto the ground with Kagome's who had quickly tossed hers aside without coming to comb her hair. She envied the fact that the girl could do nothing to her hair and yet it was always immaculate. Her own locks were so thick that if she were to let them go uncombed they would rat and look horrible in a matter of minutes.

Quickly tying her white hair tie in its usual place she walked over to the fire and filled her a bowl of stew before moving to sit next to Sesshomaru. Inuyasha was obviously now aware that their relationship had moved past friendship but she hadn't discussed with Sesshomaru talking to Kagome about it so she had kept her mouth shut until she had a chance to speak with him first.

Dinner went by quickly and uneventfully and Sesshomaru was quick to take Inuyasha back out for some moonlight training that she didn't even care to worry about; the two of them would be fine, it was Miroku she was worried about. After sending Kagome a brief glance she walked over to the monk and asked him to accompany her on a walk.

At first she thought that he'd decline but after a few moments he accepted silently and rose to walk outside. It annoyed her that she'd invited him to take a walk with her and he didn't even wait to see if she was coming. In fact, as he walked she trailed behind him until they were quite far away from Totosai's cave and he finally stopped.

She waited for him to speak, thinking that was why he stopped so abruptly, but after a few minutes of silence she decided to speak first.

"Miroku I know that my sudden transformation is probably a shock to you but it's a shock to me too and it's something you're just going to have to accept. I have."

For a moment her statement hung in the air between them like a weight and once again the odd feeling that she'd noticed in the cave came back to her. She also noticed that Kagome had been right about a shift in his aura and so she studied him carefully. When he did finally speak though, it was not what she expected to hear at all.

"Oh no Sango I've known you were going to become a demon since before I even met you. In fact it was my mission to make sure that didn't happen. Oh well, I guess I'll have to go with Plan B," he said in a voice that she'd never heard him use before, a voice that sounded achingly similar to the demon that had attacked her in her village.

"Miroku what are you-"

Before she even had a chance to finish her sentence he whirled around and swung his staff at her head. Ducking swiftly to avoid the unexpected blow she knew that without her demonic reflexes she'd never have dodged that. Miroku wasn't that fast, he'd never been that fast in the entire time she'd known him, how could he possibly be that fast now?

He was moving so quickly now that she was having to struggle to keep out of the way of his blows. She wasn't used to her demonic speed yet and thus could not use it fully. Without a weapon she was very much at the disadvantage and she cursed herself for not bringing any kind of weapon with her since her slayer's suit was still at her village in the weapon's shed and thus her hidden blades along with it. Seeing an opening she quickly kicked out at him, striking him in the stomach and knocking him back a few steps. Taking the opportunity to move back a few jumps she put some space between them before yelling out angrily.

"What the hell Miroku? Explain yourself now!"

"I don't have to explain anything to a freak like you. Regardless, you'll see what I meant in a moment," he hissed out as if she were the lowliest thing he'd ever encountered.

She was about to demand him to stop talking in riddles and tell her what the hell was going on when the metal of his staff suddenly began to melt in his hands and bright green youki glowed from within it. Instantly she recognized it to be the same kind of weapon that the demon that attacked her had wielded and fear immediately settled in her chest. This weapon could suck her soul out of her body and she had no way of combating it.

Without her knowledge a low growl escaped her throat as her body instinctively braced itself for the coming battle. Even if she did fear his weapon she would never surrender to him especially now that she had someone worth fighting for. Knowing that her demonic powers were the only weapon she had left she carefully focused her own youki into her hands as Sesshomaru had taught her earlier. After what happened before she was careful to only allow a controllable amount to focus there.

Miroku apparently realized what she was doing and quickly attacked before she could build up her own offense. Swinging the now demonic staff at her, he moved with such speed and grace that she knew he'd been this powerful all along but had merely played weak to deceive them. No one got this powerful overnight.

It was all she could do to avoid or deflect his attacks with the glowing balls of youki she had formed in her hands. She noticed that the air around them was slowly getting colder and knew that it was another one of her powers but she had no control over it yet. She kicked herself for following him so far away from Sesshomaru and the others but she was sure if she could throw one of her youki balls at him that the explosion would alert the others.

Her thinking, however, distracted her and allowed Miroku to land a solid hit on her left leg that slowed her movements considerably. As he drew back though she knew that was the only chance she'd get to fire her energy. So as she stumbled back from his blow she simultaneously threw the youki in her right hand at him only to have him block with what had once been his staff and had slowly morphed into a sword. For a second she thought that it hadn't worked but as soon as his youki sword came in contact with her own concentrated youki the ball exploded and sent a wave of ice and energy blasting everything within a hundred meters.

As she picked herself up from the tree she'd been slammed against with a little difficulty she smiled at the fact that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha would be there in a matter of minutes even if her attack hadn't killed the traitor she'd once called friend. Opposite of where she landed she saw a dark clothed figure pulling it's way out of the snow and relighting the sword that had been extinguished in the explosion.

"You'll pay for that," he said menacingly as he stood and ran towards her with his sword swinging.

This time as she dodged him she noticed that the energy she'd expended earlier training with Sesshomaru and just then when attacking Miroku was quickly becoming problematic as her movements slowed and it became harder and harder to avoid his attacks. The wound in her leg was still bleeding and aching and though it was healing fairly quickly it slowed her down greatly. Each moment that passed left her struggling to move away from his vicious swings until once again he landed a hit that dug deeply across her stomach and sent her blood flying onto the pristine snow surrounding them.

Twin roars of anger eclipsed her cry of pain as Sesshomaru and Inuyasha arrived just a moment to late. As she fell back Sesshomaru caught her gently in his arms and moved swiftly away while Inuyasha carried on past them to clash Tetsaiga with Miroku's youki sword with a loud cry of "TRAITOR!" She could literally feel the demon within Sesshomaru stirring as he looked down at her bloody figure in his arms.

Since they'd expressed their love to each other she knew she would see more of his anger if she were injured but the sight of the usually smooth stripes on his cheeks becoming jagged and his beautiful golden eyes started to bleed red shocked her. She wanted to calm him and tell him it was alright but she barely had enough energy to keep her eyes open much less talk; her demonic healing slow to kick in since it had to fight the foreign youki before being able to start healing her.

She was sure that were she not bleeding heavily in his arms Sesshomaru would have been violently dismembering the so called monk at this very moment but as it were she was forced to watch as he struggled to keep the demon within him subdued, allowing Inuyasha to battle the one that had hurt her in his stead.

Once the weakest member of the Inu gang, Miroku was now easily keeping up with Inuyasha as the two clashed swords before pulling back to try again to land a hit on the other. When she noticed Kirara land a short distance away with Kagome on her back she didn't even have time to focus on the young priestess before Sesshomaru was suddenly standing beside them with her in his arms. Without even allowing Kagome to dismount Sesshomaru gently set her on Kirara's back with her back to Kagome who quickly took on her whole weight as Sesshomaru stepped away.

"_**Take her back to the cave. Now."**_

With that he disappeared and she knew he was going back to help Inuyasha. The only thing that worried her was that while his eyes were no longer bleeding red the purple stripes on his cheeks were still jagged and his voice held a double timber that suggested he was not fully himself. Kagome was about to tell Kirara to take them back to Totosai's as Sesshomaru had instructed when she stopped her.

"No Kagome I can't leave them here to fight my battles. If one of them were to get hurt it'd be all my fault."

Her mouth tasted coppery which she knew wasn't good but she absolutely refused to leave him knowing he wasn't himself. Kagome didn't argue though, she too didn't want to leave her mate to fight without her there, but instead carefully got off of Kirara and helped Sango off as well. Leaning her back against a nearby tree she allowed Kagome to survey the damage. The wound Miroku had inflicted on her leg earlier was now almost fully healed and no longer bleeding. Her stomach though was slowly healing but there was still blood flowing from it so Kagome bandaged it quickly.

As Kagome and Kirara both helped her to her feet they heard a loud roar of pain that had both girls rushing forward through the trees to see which of their men had been hurt. Kagome screamed and her own heart ached to see Inuyasha lying in a pool of his own blood as Sesshomaru knocked Miroku away from him and pushed the battle back. Kagome's body shook, as she had to visibly restrain herself from running to him to stay with Sango.

"Go Kagome I'll be fine. Take Kirara and get Inuyasha off of the battlefield," she pushed herself away from Kagome and leaned heavily on a tree, "I'm a demon now, I'm healing quickly so don't worry about me!"

That made up her mind as the other girl quickly jumped on Kirara and the two flew swiftly to Inuyasha who was pushing himself up using Tetsaiga but it was obvious he was hurt. Knowing that Kagome would take care of him she allowed her eyes to flick back to the battle as Sesshomaru swiped Tokijin at Miroku who was barely able to block with his own sword.

It was obvious who was the better swordsman but the mere fact that Miroku had been able to last this long against Sesshomaru scared her, especially since he'd managed to hurt Inuyasha so badly. Her mind noted that both brothers had been training heavily all day and thus were already at the disadvantage to Miroku who'd done nothing but conserve his energy until just the right time when he attacked. Still, who in the hell was he working for to have put on such an elaborate act for such a long time?

Her demonic senses drew her attention back to the battle as the youki from Miroku's sword flared and suddenly a bolt of bright green demonic energy shot out. At first she was relieved to see that it was obviously far from hitting Sesshomaru but in the next instant she realized that with the angle it was coming from it was heading strait for her.

Her blue eyes widened in fear as the bright green youki flew towards her so quickly she didn't have a chance to avoid. Instinctively she brought her hand up as if it would somehow protect her but in a flash Sesshomaru appeared before her and blocked the energy with Tokijin just before it could hit her. She could see the strain in his muscles at the speed he'd used to get to her and then intercept such a strong attack without being able to prepare his body. Worry flashed through her but when Sesshomaru lowered Tokijin and put it back in its sheath she noticed that Miroku's aura was now completely gone from the area. She was relieved that he was gone but angered that he'd been able to escape after what he'd done to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Her thoughts brought her attention back to her love who was still standing in front of her.

For a moment Sesshomaru merely stood with his back to her and she was about to speak when he whipped around suddenly and took a firm hold of each of her arms with his large clawed hands. Completely stunned by his swift actions she could do nothing as he began to yell at her directly for the first time since they'd met.

"Why in the seven hells didn't you go back to the cave like I told you to? Did you stupidly think that you'd be able to help us in battle in the condition that you're in? You have no weapon! What were you thinking?"

As he'd yelled he shook her by her arms, not violently, but enough that she was actually afraid. She couldn't speak to answer him as tears swiftly built and rolled down her face. Never before had she seen him like this and for his anger to be directed at her broke her heart.

When he realized what he'd done he immediately stopped and stared at her in shock. Never had he yelled at someone the way he'd just yelled at her; she who he loved more than anything in the world, she who would be his future mate. To see her crying because of his inability to control his anger sent a horrible sinking feeling into the depths of his stomach.

Without waiting another moment he pulled her gently into his chest and wrapped his arms around her. With one hand on her lower back and the other cradling her neck he held her to him and immediately began to apologize; something he'd never do to anyone but her.

"Sango, I'm so sorry. I could have lost you just now and I don't know what I'd do if I did," he paused as he tried to think of words that could convey what he'd felt but finding none he just repeated the thing that had scared him the most, "I could have _lost _you."

Her tiny form shook in his arms as she cried and he knew that it was stupid of him for reacting that way and taking his anger out on her but he hadn't even had his demon fully restrained and the sight of her about to be struck by the bastard monk's attack terrified him. As her crying slowed he looked down to find her big blue eyes staring up at him shining with unshed tears.

"I-I'm sorry Sesshomaru. I should have listened," she said as her voice trembled with sadness and remorse.

"No Sango this is not your fault. I am to blame and I will never forgive myself for attacking you in that way."

Instead of replying she gently laid her head back against his chest and relaxed in his warm embrace. His eyes softened, as he knew that he'd been forgiven. He couldn't help but wonder what he'd done to deserve a woman like her but he thanked whatever god had blessed him with such a wonderful woman.

However, as he inhaled her scent he remembered that she was still injured and despite the fact that her demonic healing was helping, her wound was still open and bleeding. Noting that Kagome must have taken his brother back to Totosai's cave on Kirara he carefully scooped her up into his arms. He needed to get her back to Kagome so that she could heal her. Only then would he be able to relax enough to take in all that had happened and begin to formulate a plan of attack and defense. However, before he could set off her voice drew his attention down to her.

"Sesshomaru," she paused as she looked up at him and waited until his eyes met hers before she continued, "Do you remember how you used to tease me about being a trouble magnet?"

"Yes."

"Well I'm really beginning to think you were right."

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**a/n: Well there you go... Honestly I don't really think this chapter was so great or worth all you amazing reviewers waiting that long but I'm still trying to get back in the Sesshy/Sango groove. If anyone seems out of character or there are any grammer/spelling mistakes I'm sorry, I'm a bit rusty. Well, except for Miroku, I did that on purpose. Lol. Oh, also... I wanted to let you know that I've drawn two different sketches of Sango's demonic form for this story. I don't have them posted online yet because I don't yet have a scanner but as soon as I get it, probably around August 6th, I'll get them posted to my deviantart account which is Texascowgirl-13 as well. But I'll remind you all again closer to the time... So I know it may not be worth it but plz plz plz READ AND REVIEW!**


	9. The Discovery

**a/n: Hey yall! As promised I updated WAAAYYYY faster than I have in the last few updates. I really appreciate all the reviews I got from all of you since it's been so long since I'd updated. I know this chapter is shorter than the last one but still 8 pgs in one day isn't too bad is it? It's up to yall. On to the chappy!**

**"Speech"**

**'Thoughts'**

**DISCLAIMER: OWN INUYASHA? NOPE NOT ME!**

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Chapter 9- The Discovery

They arrived back at the cave to find a shirtless Inuyasha being tended to by a rather distraught Kagome. The hanyou winced occasionally as Kagome started to heal him using her spiritual power; something she'd learned from Kaede recently. There were tears running down her face despite the look of concentration and both of their sharp ears were able to pick up the priestess' mumbled comments of disbelief.

"Miroku…He attacked us…He tried to kill Sango…and Inuyasha….he..."

"Kagome how's Inuyasha doing," Sango said to distract her from her ramblings as Sesshomaru walked forwards and sat her now carefully.

The priestess didn't look up from her work as they entered but did cease her muttering and narrowed her brows in further concentration. She looked from Kagome to Inuyasha to see that his brows were drawn together in worry as he watched his mate frantically try to heal him despite the turmoil brewing inside her at Miroku's betrayal.

"Kagome-," she began again but this time the girl responded.

"He's ok Sango. As soon as I get done healing him I'll come check on your wounds. Ok?"

She nodded at the girl who immediately went back to concentrating on her work. While Miroku's betrayal had affected her, she knew that Kagome was taking it far harder. The girl was still far too innocent for her own good and being betrayed by someone she'd thought of as a close friend hurt her deeply.

A large hand on the small of her back drew her attention to Sesshomaru who had sat down beside her after sitting her down on the futon. She tried to give him a smile but the sadness and anger she felt was still very much there despite her not being as verbal about it as Kagome. After their failed relationship she'd come to think of Miroku as another brother, as she had Inuyasha. Slowly, as the adrenaline faded taking her anger with it, the sadness at once again being betrayed by a brother sank in.

Sesshomaru must have read the expression in her eyes because he gently pulled her to him and let her exhausted form lean against his left side. Her mind noted that Kagome had stopped to look at them but her body was too tired to care. She was relieved though as Kagome merely put on a small knowing smile and turned back to Inuyasha's wound that was now almost completely healed, tears now gone from her eyes.

Just knowing that he was there for her, feeling his strong body against hers, seemed to ease the pain for the moment. She knew that when she was alone she would likely cry for what she'd lost and the betrayal she'd faced yet again. For now though, she was content to lean against Sesshomaru and rest her weary and battle worn body.

"Ok Sango I'm finished with Inuyasha. Let's take a look at that stomach wound," said Kagome as she stood and walked over to them.

Sesshomaru immediately lifted his arm and allowed her to move away. She wasn't worried about it though, she'd felt the bleeding stop a little while ago. She knew he'd smelt it too but he'd always been overprotective of her when she was wounded and apparently the fact that she was now a demon didn't change that.

"Well Sango it looks like your demonic healing did what it was supposed to. You're one hundred percent again except you may want to get a new kimono because this one's just about had it," Kagome said as she stepped away and examined the bloody mess that had once been her traveling kimono.

The kimono she'd been in while talking to Sonya immediately came to mind and she guessed she'd have to buy the fabric and make it herself since Kagome was right about her old kimono. Looking down she realized the extent of the damage to her old wardrobe and sighed audibly. Sesshomaru looked at her inquiringly but she merely gestured to herself as an explanation.

There were large wholes where Miroku had cut both her leg and stomach, the seam she'd sewn only a few days ago was now ripped and only held together in a few places, and the demonic energy exploding from her hands had burnt off the sleeves up to nearly her elbows. A new kimono was definitely a necessity. She wished she at least had her slayer's suit to change in to so she wasn't half exposed but it was still at her village.

Thoughts of her village led her back to the demon's blade and how Miroku had wielded a near identical one but did not use its most deadly power. Why? She was about to voice that question when Sesshomaru stood and grabbed his father's hoari top that she'd used before and placed it gently over her shoulders. She appreciated the gesture but as she wrapped it around herself she could not get the question out of her mind.

"Sesshomaru do you remember the soul sucking power that the demon's blade had at my village?"

The flash of rage through his eyes confirmed that he did before he even answered but her question drew the attention of Kagome and Inuyasha as well so he answered with a sharp nod.

"Well Miroku's blade was exactly like that demon's so why didn't he use that power on me when we were first fighting or even you or Inuyasha when you both joined in?"

He had to take a deep breath to calm himself before answering but when he did the anger in his voice didn't seemed to have diminished any despite his attempt.

"The bastard monk has a very big mouth. He spoke of a ritual that would have to be performed now that you are a demon if his master were to extract your soul. It seems that the swords could only achieve that while you were still human."

Heaving a sigh of relief she allowed her body to relax slightly at the news. It still worried her that some crazy demon was after her ancestor's power but at least now they wouldn't be able to get it so easily. Now to get started on the next step towards fighting the psycho, turning towards Kagome she caught the young girl's eye to make sure she was paying attention.

"If you wouldn't mind Kagome, after I get back from my village tomorrow could we work on some spiritual power control exercises that Kaede taught you. I'd like to get some kind of grasp on what kind of power I have."

"Sure Sango but are you sure it's a good idea to go back to your village tomorrow? I mean-"

Inuyasha, after listening in on their conversation, cut Kagome off before she could even finish talking. She knew this was coming from both him and Sesshomaru but at least he could have waited until they were done talking like his brother had.

"No it's not a good idea! What makes you think I'm going to let you go back there just so you can get attacked again? They know that's where you'll go so they'll be waiting!"

"Because I have to go back and get my slayer's suit and Hiraikotsu you moron! Sesshomaru didn't bring them when he rushed me here to Totosai and I need them!"

By now both were standing up and glaring each other down like children. This was a usual occurrence when she and Inuyasha got into a fight and she was happy to say that most of the times she won their very loud screaming matches.

"Plus, there may be some scrolls talking about this power in the old slayer library. I was never in there much so I can't say exactly what we may find."

From the look on his face she'd won yet again. He knew that she needed her battle suit and primary weapon and the fact that they could find useful information about her powers was just an added bonus. Noticing that Sesshomaru had been quiet for quite some time she looked back to make sure it was ok with him that they go tomorrow.

"Very well. We will leave before the sun rises. You and the priestess will ride Kirara and if anything goes wrong you leave and come back here immediately. Understood?"

As much as she hated to agree she knew that he wouldn't let her go if she didn't accept his terms. So she nodded and moved to sit back down beside him. However, even as she did the gears in her mind were turning to form a plan to stay behind and help them if they needed it.

She couldn't help the yawn that escaped her mouth but was quick to clamp her hand over it as her manners kicked in. Belatedly she realized that she hadn't slept for two days in a row and was only now becoming tired. Yet another perk of being a demon she decided as she leaned against Sesshomaru and rested her head on his shoulder.

"It seems it is time for everyone to bed down for the night. There is a room just past Totosai's forge and to the right for the girl's to sleep in and Inuyasha and I will remain here to stand guard," Sesshomaru said before she had a chance to fall asleep on him as Kagome had on Inuyasha.

She smiled at her best friend who had been very weary after the events that had unfolded today and the impromptu healing session she'd performed on her mate. She stood with a little assistance from Sesshomaru who steadied her slightly wobbly form before they headed off to the girl's room with Inuyasha following behind her carrying Kagome in his arms.

As soon as they entered the room-like cave area she noted that the entrance had a large dried flap of demon hide covering the opening like a makeshift door. She admired the craftsmanship since her own village had specialized in the use of demon parts for various things. Inuyasha moved past her as she stood admiring the hide to lie Kagome down on the one very large futon in the room before placing a blanket over her shoulders and kissing her forehead.

She smiled but did not say anything as he moved back to her and Sesshomaru who were still standing in the doorway. Before he moved by her he stopped and gave her a quick hug. Her body relaxed and she knew that no matter what happened she still had one brother left that would never betray her. He pulled away and grinned slightly at her before throwing aside the flap and moving back to the main cave to leave her and Sesshomaru to talk.

"Get some rest Sango. Despite your demon blood you need it to help your body recuperate from the shock it's gone through recently," he said as one of his clawed hands gently stroked her cheek.

"Ok, I'll try," she said as she brought both of her small hands up to caress the hand on her cheek.

"Goodnight," he said as he withdrew his hand with noticeable hesitance and turned to walk back down the shaded hall.

"Sesshomaru," she called after him and waited until he turned to finish, "I love you."

Before she knew it he was in front of her again, kissing her with passion and pulling her body to his. She moaned as she allowed his tongue to enter her mouth and the kiss deepened. The feelings he ignited within her blew her mind and she couldn't believe she'd gotten lucky enough to find a man like him to love her. It seemed far too soon when he pulled away and smiled at her gently, something she knew that he only did for her.

"As I do you Sango. I will love you forever no matter what happens."

And with that he was gone and she was left standing wanting more. Shaking her head with a smile on her face she made her way into the room Kagome was peacefully sleeping in and shed her bloody kimono. Wrapping InuTaisho's old robes around her she lay down next to Kagome on the oversized futon and was asleep before she even realized her body was tired.

* * *

When they'd arrived at her village the sun was just coming up and both she and Kagome were yawning atop Kirara's back. The boys had told them to stay back while they searched the village for any signs of a threat so they were stuck sitting in a tree a short distance from the village until one or both of them came back to get them.

Kagome was sitting in front of her leaning back against her and had fallen asleep on the ride over. The poor girl was exhausted and she didn't mind supporting the slight weight until she needed to be woken. She heard a slight commotion from the village and her eyes flew up to see a large centipede demon making it's way through the broken grounds. Rolling her eyes she went back to being bored, of course it had to be something stupid that attacked when she really wanted a good fight.

She didn't expect Kagome to awaken so violently though and the poor girl nearly knocked them both off Kirara as she tried to scramble for her bow at feeling the centipede's demonic aura. Her own aura spiking and flaring wildly.

"Kagome it's ok calm down! It's just a centipede demon," she said as she grabbed hold of the girl who had nearly wriggled off of Kirara.

The girl calmed immediately and sighed as her shoulders slumped. She'd been so deeply asleep that when her spiritual power had alerted her that there was a demonic aura nearby, other than Sango's of course, that she had reacted without even stopping to feel how powerful it was.

Both girls jumped as Inuyasha appeared on the branch next to them suddenly. He had Tetsaiga drawn and looked murderous until he saw that they were just sitting there and nothing was wrong.

"What the hell just happened? Your aura goes from calm to frantic in seconds and there's nothing even around!"

It was obvious that he'd been afraid something was attacking them when Kagome's aura spiked and she couldn't blame him; it had jolted her fully awake mid-yawn. Sesshomaru arrived a few seconds later but he did not have Tokijin drawn and was far more calm than Inuyasha. Apparently he'd taken the time to sense the aura around them and her own demonic aura before jumping to conclusions since Kagome oh so often overreacted.

"We're fine Inuyasha. I'm sorry I scared you I just woke up when I felt the centipede demon's aura and I was scared you were both getting attacked while I'd been sleeping," Kagome said as she blushed slightly.

Inuyasha just sighed and allowed Tetsaiga to returned to its smaller form before sheathing it. She smiled at him before turning her head back to Sesshomaru.

"So is it safe to go into the village now? I'm not going to be mauled by any vicious pig demons or horrifying bug demons," the sarcasm in her tone was not appreciated, she could tell, but he nodded nonetheless.

So with the confirmation to go she swiftly leapt off of Kirara's back and took off through the trees. This was her first time traveling through the trees at such speeds on her own legs and it felt completely exhilarating. Of course Sesshomaru caught up fast and was running beside her in a matter of seconds but she didn't care, she wasn't trying to outrun him.

The two of them arrived in the village in a matter of minutes and she quickly made her way towards the weapons shed that her mended slayer's suit still lay in. Sesshomaru stopped outside the hut's door and waited for her to get changed. She'd sewed the major holes in her kimono quickly in the morning before they left but she knew they wouldn't last long or hold up against any kind of strain.

It felt so good to get back in her slayer's garb that she couldn't even describe her happiness were someone to ask her. It felt like coming home, something that she'd been missing since she'd become a demon, and the familiar weight of Hiraikotsu in her hand was like a warm greeting from an old friend.

As she walked out of the hut she couldn't contain the grin on her face and Sesshomaru quirked an elegant brow at what must have been a stupid look on her face. Without skipping a beat she swung Hiraikotsu over her shoulder, the strap now holding it to her back, and took off running towards the village library that lay in the far corner of the fortress's walls. Now she was trying to outrun him, just to see how fast she could go with Hiraikotsu on her back. She was annoyed slightly that he caught up to her before she reached the hut but still she let out a light laugh as they both stopped just short of running into the ramshackle old walls of the library.

Sesshomaru merely rolled his eyes with a slight grin on his face as she entered the dusty old hut in front of him. Inuyasha and Kagome had just landed with Kirara right behind him and she couldn't help but note the fact that they were gone for a short time and it surely didn't take them that long to get to the village. Smiling at the thought of the couple she made her way into the building and began searching through the dust covered books only to find there were probably a thousand volumes lying untouched on the shelves. She sighed; this was going to take a while.

~~~~~~~Three hours later~~~~~~~

After searching for so long she was now covered in dust and sneezing every few minutes. The entire group had searched at first but at the one-hour mark Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had wondered off to go "train." As if she didn't know that they just wanted out of the tedious work of skimming through hundreds of ancient books. After two hours Kagome had told her that she was going to go get some water and had never come back. She sent Kirara with her since the little neko wasn't much help when it came to reading so she wasn't worried; they'd probably just jumped in the river for a swim since it was nearly ninety-five degrees outside.

The sweltering heat hadn't helped her much since the old hut was already stuffy and full of dust. She'd long since pulled her long brown hair up into a high ponytail to get it off of her neck. It didn't help much and she was still sweating heavily in her slayer's suit but she was not willing to give up until she found what she was looking for.

It had surprised her that the old hut was far bigger than she originally imagined. There were at least four separate rooms that each held two or three bookshelves filled with books. She'd gone through two of them and was moving toward the third when she noticed an odd dip in the floorboards at the end of the hall. Making her way over to them she stepped to the side so as not to step on the faulty looking boards when suddenly the wood caved beneath her feet. Tumbling down with a surprised yelp she hit the dirt in a completely dark room and rolled.

Rubbing a sore spot on her ankle from where she landed she looked around the room and waited for it to heal before standing. She didn't have to wait long as it was only a minor sprain and so after only a moment she stood and looked around. It was very dark and even her demonic eye sight could barely pick up the outlines of bookshelves and a table with chairs from the thin stream of light coming from the hole she'd made when she fell through the floor.

She suddenly felt Sesshomaru's aura and a second later he was down in the hole with her. One hand was gripping Tokijin's hilt and the other was glowing with green poison. The light from his youki lit up the previously dark room and she kicked herself for not thinking about that. With a low growl Sesshomaru released his hold on Tokijin and turned back to her with his youki still lit. One look between her and the hole in the ceiling told him exactly why she had cried out.

"Sango! Sesshomaru? What's going on down there?"

Looking up she could see Kagome's confused face staring down at them from the hole she'd created. If she guessed correctly this was the room that they were looking for; this was the room that held the books with the knowledge of her past.

"We're fine Kagome. Could you run and grab a lantern from the weapon's hut though? I think this is what we've been looking for."

"Um ok! We'll be right back!"

With that said her eyes fell back to Sesshomaru who was still looking her over to make sure she wasn't hurt. With a smile she approached him and rocked up onto her toes to kiss him lightly on the lips. At that he seemed to calm down and soon both of their eyes were roaming the dust covered shelves. From the looks of it no one had been down here in the last century. It didn't surprise her though; no one in her village had ever even mentioned that their culture used to hold some kind of immense power.

A few minutes later Kagome and Inuyasha returned with lit lanterns and Inuyasha handed them down to Sesshomaru who easily reached up and grabbed them since the room was not much more than eight feet high. When the lantern lit up the entire room they noticed a small set of stairs in one corner and so they traced them up to a spot where a trapdoor opened in the floor above. Inuyasha and Kagome came down the stairs and they all set out on attacking the room.

After only a few minutes she came upon a book that had exactly what she was looking for; an explanation on how the village's sorcerers were trained and how the ones with demonic powers learned to use them. With a triumphant grin she turned back to the others who were all still digging and clutched the old leather bound book to her chest.

"You can all stop searching now. I've found what we've been looking for."

* * *

**a/n: Well that's it. I know this chapter was super short but I got it out in only a day so hey it's not THAT short. ^-^ ...Well it is now currently 2am and I'm very tired from writing my fingers off the majority of the day so I'll leave yall with this:**

**PLZ READ AND REVIEW! **


	10. An Ancient Vendetta

**A/N: Hey yall! I know it's been literally forever but my freshman year in college was insane and I didn't have time to read fanfic much less write anything. So I know this has been a long time in coming and I apologize in advance if this chapter is a little bit of a let down (I'm kinda rusty). Anyway I'll try to update faster during the summer but I'll still be taking 9 hours of classes this summer and I have to get a job. Regardless, on to the chapter! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inu or any other of the awesome characters! **

* * *

Chapter 10- An Ancient Vendetta

After finding the book that they had spent all day searching for the group headed back to Totosai's cave as the sun set. Kirara had fallen asleep in her arms before they left the village so Kagome had opted to ride on Inuyasha's back while she and Sesshomaru ran. Kagome had once again dozed off as they softly leapt through the trees and shifting her eyes from her priestess friend with a smile she looked down to see Kirara and her ancestor's book both nestled securely in her arms.

Sesshomaru was running slightly ahead of them as she and Inuyasha ran side by side. She couldn't wait to get back to Totosai's so that she could take a nice long bath in the hot springs before spending the rest of the night reading the contents of the ancient tome. Not having to sleep every night was a benefit of her demonic form that she truly enjoyed. Also her eyes adjusting to the increasingly darkening forest was very beneficial itself.

The branches she was using to jump were only barely visible under the scant light of the crescent moon and yet her new eyes could see them easily. She smiled to herself and slowed her gait as Sesshomaru suddenly stopped just outside of the cave. Inuyasha landed a half beat before her and immediately headed into the cave to lay Kagome down on the futon in the "girl's room."

As she landed gently next to Sesshomaru she was barely on the ground for a moment before he swept her gently to him and kissed her chastely on the lips. She knew he'd been longing to kiss her all day and after the way he'd left her wanting more the night before so had she. She laughed though when he pulled back and sneezed due to the dust that was lifting off of her because of her swift movement towards him.

"I guess that means I really need a bath, huh," she said with a smile just before Kirara sneezed cutely and jumped out of her arms to trot off into the cave.

Her laughter was light and soft as she turned back to Sesshomaru and kissed him one more time before walking inside and depositing the book a short ways from the fire. Grabbing a towel and Kagome's bath bag she made her way into the hot springs and was quick to shed her slayer's garb in favor of the soothing warmth of the water.

Too excited to truly enjoy the spring she went through her bathing routine fairly quickly and wrapped the towel around her as she grabbed her things and made her way back to the room she and Kagome shared. However, as soon as she exited the springs she bumped into someone and dropped everything she was holding in favor of scrambling to hold up her towel.

Her face, she was sure, was beet red as her blue eyes rose to meet two smoldering golden orbs. The amusement in those beautiful eyes was almost eclipsed by the burning desire that lit them as his eyes roved her slightly damp and barely clad body.

"Sango," he said as one hand snaked its way around her waste and the other came up to gently cup her cheek.

His thumb was gently stroking the stripes on her cheek causing her eyes to become lidded and her body to relax against him. He drew her into another passionate kiss and just when she thought she'd loose herself in his touch a uncomfortable cough and the scent of Inuyasha hit both of their senses.

Pulling apart only slightly, she suddenly became aware that Sesshomaru was holding their chests together because it was the only thing keeping her towel from falling to the floor. Her face immediately reddened again and she quickly grabbed at the towel and hid her face in Sesshomaru's robes. He merely chuckled slightly and turned his head towards Inuyasha to acknowledge his presence.

"Totosai told me to come tell you two that dinner is ready. I was going to go wake Kagome up but since you need to change could you do that for me Sango?"

Inuyasha's face was very red as well and his eyes were staring strait at the ground in front of him. It was clear that he was embarrassed on walking in on a moment between his brother and sister figure as well as the fact that she was barely clothed. If she wasn't so clearly embarrassed herself then she would have laughed at the look on his face.

"Ok Inuyasha. I'll meet you two in the there in a few minutes."

Then with one swift movement she grabbed her things off the floor and used her demonic speed to disappear down the hall and into their room. As she leaned her back against the wall just inside the door flap she heard Inuyasha mumble something followed by a dull thump and a smile came to her face. Her demonic hearing barely picked it up but luckily Inuyasha talked loudly.

"Well good gods Sesshomaru don't you think you could have at least gotten out of the hall before you started trying to take her clothes off?"

SMACK

She felt their auras fade slightly as they walked back towards the main cave with Inuyasha's low grumblings trailing off the further away they became. As much as Inuyasha's words embarrassed her it brought her mind to her and Sesshomaru becoming mates, something she anticipated and dreaded at the same time. What if he saw her naked form and decided she wasn't worthy? What if she did something wrong? She'd never been with a man before so what if she wasn't good at it.

Her mind was about to go off on a tangent when Kagome's stomach growled loudly and broke her out of her thoughts. A gentle smile broke out on her face as she walked over to the poor girl and set her things beside the futon. Since she'd become a demon she often forgot about her human needs like food and sleep. It only just occurred to her that they hadn't eaten all day and Kagome was the only human left in their group now.

Kicking herself for forgetting her friend's needs and putting her own needs first she sat down on the bed beside Kagome and shook the girl gently by the shoulder to wake her up. The priestess awoke with a groan as she rolled away from Sango and pulled the covers up over her head. Sango merely laughed and stood to get changed.

"Ok Kagome you can sleep but the boys are going to eat all the food Totosai made."

Immediately the girl was up and scrambling to brush her hair before she burst out of the room and ran sprinting down the hall towards the smell of food. She laughed once more before pulling on InuTaisho's robe and tying it so that she could walk freely. Toweling off her hair so that it was only damp she tied it back in her typical loose ponytail and walked in the direction Kagome had run only a few minutes before.

When she entered the main cave Kagome had already eaten an entire bowl and was filling another. Inuyasha was laughing at his mate's ravenous appetite and Sesshomaru merely shook his head and looked up at her as she walked in. Filling her own bowl with steaming stew she sat next to Sesshomaru and began to slowly eat her own meal. Despite having eaten the stew for three consecutive meals now she still savored the robust taste, especially with her new senses.

After dinner Inuyasha and Kagome went to bathe and have some of their own private time and to take a break from training. Sesshomaru had started to insist that Inuyasha go out to train with him, despite the darkness, but she managed to talk him into allowing all of them a break for the evening. As soon as she'd finished eating her hands snatched up the ancient slayer's tomb and began to carefully leaf through the pages. Time seemed to stop as she immersed herself in trying to decipher the cryptic words in the book written in a language she could only partially understand. After quite some time she closed the book in frustration and tossed it away from her while rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands.

"Have you discovered anything about your powers," Sesshomaru asked as he returned from Totosai's forge where he must have been checking on the forging of her weapon.

"Nothing helpful," she said as she stood and stretched out her stiff joints, "It is written in an ancient slayer code that I can only partly understand. I may even have to go back to the village to find a book on the cipher. Right now though I could use a good workout to get rid of the kinks in my muscles."

The playful smile on her face caused Sesshomaru to raise an elegant brow as he looked down at her attire doubtfully. Catching his expression her brows drew together in question before she looked down and realized she was wearing InuTaisho's huge old robes, since her old kimono was now shreds and could no longer be worn and her slayer's suit was sweat and dust covered. An idea quickly formed in her head and she turned and ran to her and Kagome's room while yelling, "I'll be right back."

Returning shortly in a dark red tank top and a pair of Kagome's gym shorts she blushed at the way his golden eyes roved her form. As he walked towards her she didn't know what to do so she diverted her eyes and tried to quell the rising blush that was coloring her face with each step he took. When he was just inches from her he stopped and rose a single clawed finger to her chin and pulled her gaze up to meet his own.

"You are beautiful Sango, but I much prefer it when you wear your own clothing."

With that he turned and headed outside leaving her to follow at her own leisure. After a few moments in a hormone induced daze she blinked and realized that he'd done it to her again; tantalizing her with his presence and then just walking away leaving her wanting more from him. With narrowed eyes and a low growl she stomped out of the cave in pursuit of her Demon Lord.

She didn't have to look far as she could see him standing looking up at the moon at the opposite edge of the clearing. Deciding to get a little payback of her own she walked to the center of the clearing and without saying a word she went about her normal stretches emphasizing on stretching her back to stick out her chest and facing away from him when she bent to touch the ground to stretch her calves.

She was rewarded promptly as a low growl sounded directly behind her and as she stood and turned she was pulled into the strong muscular chest where the growling was originating. Looking up she put on her best "innocent" face and tried not to smile.

"It is not wise to taunt a demon Sango," he said, his voice husky and deep.

"I don't know what your talking abou-"

A passionate kiss cut off her innocent declaration and before she knew it her arms were around his neck and his around her waste. Kissing Sesshomaru was a type of euphoria she never imagined she would experience. She was so lost in the pleasant feeling of his body against hers that she didn't sense the approaching demonic aura until Sesshomaru tensed and pulled her closer to him before jumping back and out of the range of the mass of acid covered webbing shot at them by a group of over grown spider demons.

The rumbling growl coming from his chest was no longer playful and warm but instead was laced with danger and threat. Pulling herself from his protective embrace she turned to size up the enemy. The group of spider demons before them were nothing spectacular. While they were about twice as big as the spider demons she had previously encountered they did not seem extraordinarily threatening in any way. Why an average sized group of spider demons with low demonic auras would attack two dog demons, especially when one was the Lord of the West, was beyond her. She smiled though, she had been itching for a fight and they were kind enough to bring it to her. She just hoped Sesshomaru wouldn't slaughter them all and ruin her fun.

So before the angry Lord of the West could draw his Tokijin and begin slicing through the spiders she flew forward with her demonic speed and appeared in the middle of the group. Slicing her claws through the spider closest to her she was amazed at how easily her sharp claws cut through its hard exoskeleton as if it were made of paper. Spinning she kicked out with her left leg and sent another of the large spiders flying across the clearing where it smashed through a tree and grew still. This was the first real taste she was getting of her demonic abilities and she had to say she absolutely loved it.

In the back of her mind she noted that Sesshomaru had yet to interfere in the battle but she took that as a sign that she was doing well in her new body. One of the spiders behind her raised it's bony leg as if it were going to strike her but she was too fast and the sharp leg hit the dirt hard before being cut off by her sharper claws. Pausing in her movements she realized that the remaining eight spiders were surrounding her in exactly spaced intervals and she knew they were planning something. Sparing a glance towards Sesshomaru she saw that he was facing an additional group of spider demons and that while he was making quick work of the pathetic weaklings they had him preoccupied.

Icy gaze returning to the demons before her she pulled her yokai into her clawed hands and narrowed her eyes as the temperature began to drop. She didn't understand why the two actions were always correlated but she didn't have time to think about it as suddenly all eight of the demons began spitting yokai enforced webbing at her simultaneously. Slicing and dodging she tried to avoid as much of it as possible but slowly the disgusting fiber was sticking to her and weighing her down. She could hear Sesshomaru snarling in the background but she couldn't afford to take her eyes off her enemy.

Throwing one of her yokai balls she managed to kill three of the spiders but the other five continued to bombard her with webbing until she could no longer remain standing and was forced to her knees. For some reason she could now only barely hear Sesshomaru's snarls and growls and it was then that she noticed that some how a barrier had been formed around her battle and not only Sesshomaru but Inuyasha and Kagome as well were throwing everything they had at the barrier to try to get to her.

Her attention shifted from their attempts to break the barrier to the dark forest in front of her as a new, more powerful, aura approached from within the confines of the barrier. From the darkness appeared a pale skinned woman with hair as black as the night itself and eyes of shining onyx. Her lips were ruby red and her eye tattooing was smoky, accenting her beauty and framing the blood red hourglass upon her forehead. As she stopped a foot away from Sango's bound form the long material of her black dress rustled and she could see small ice crystals forming along its folds.

Eyes glittering with malicious intent the woman smiled to reveal two large pincer-like teeth that morphed her once beautiful face into something grotesque and strange. After a moment of silence the woman spoke in a rough voice that sounded like the jumbled mix of hundreds of voices that somehow spoke as one.

"Finally you have come, descendant of Sana the Sorceress. I have waited hundreds of years for you to resurface and use your ancestor's powers. Now I shall finally exact my revenge on your retched family!"

Sango looked up at the demon and could only assume her family had slain the demon's kin or something of that sort to have sparked a hatred that would last hundreds of years. Senses wearily watching the demon before her she allowed her eyes to momentarily flick to Inuyasha and Sesshomaru who were attacking the barrier with the red Tetsaiga and Tokijin with little luck.

"Oh no I did my research on your friends slayer. They won't be able to break my barrier even with that dog's fang," Sango looked up at her incredulously, "You see I've enforced it with a little magic of my own. Black magic."

The last two words were said with a triumphant grin as the demon woman bent and sneered into her face. That gave Sango the shot she needed and without hesitation she slammed her forehead forward into the woman's face. The demon screamed as she fell back and the spiders that held the webs restraining her arms yanked on them so hard that she thought her arms would be pulled out of socket.

The cry of pain that escaped her lips was muffled as she clenched her teeth but Sesshomaru's sharp ears caught it from outside the barrier. She could hear his furious snarls and feel the barrier pulse as he slammed his bare fist onto it in rage. Raising her head she tried to look towards him but her face was met with the backhand of an enraged demon woman.

"You wench! How dare you strike me? Now you will pay with your life!"

Suddenly the woman's fangs grew large and with a violent movement she bit down onto the exposed skin of Sango's neck and injected her with her deadly poison. Sango's scream of pain was torturous as her body slowly started to become paralyzed in the most painful way. Her screams echoed throughout the clearing as her vision went black.

* * *

Outside the barrier Inuyasha watched in horror as the spider demon woman sunk her fangs into Sango's neck and his sister screamed in pain. He was about to slam his red Tetsaiga into the barrier to try to break it again when suddenly an explosion of yokai from his brother forced him to grab Kagome and jump to safety as Sesshomaru transformed into his true form.

It truly was magnificent to see his brother's true form towering over the tiny barrier the spider's had somehow created but the snarling howl that ripped from the massive dog's throat sent chills down even his spine. Kagome who was clinging to his chest shuddered and buried her head in his haori. With monstrous teeth gnashing Sesshomaru brought one giant paw down on the barrier with a roar. As his claws slashed the barrier the red orb of energy bent in under the pressure and turned black. The second time the massive paw came down the barrier shattered and an enormous cloud of smoke signaling Sesshomaru's shift back to his human form covered the clearing. A wave of freezing air blew out as the barrier shattered and Inuyasha was forced to raise the large sleeve of his fire rat robe to protect he and Kagome from the frigid blast.

After lowering his arm he could see through the smoky fog as the demons holding the webbing confining Sango fell. The blurred shadow of his barely contained brother slaughtered them all with his bare claws and sent black demon blood spurting everywhere. The woman released her hold on Sango's neck just in time to stand and have her head taken off by the poison covered elongated claws of Sesshomaru. An instant later, without him having seen Sesshomaru move a muscle, the red eyed barely contained form of his brother was standing in front of Kagome, who stood at his side, with a deathly pale Sango lying limp in his arms.

"_**SAVE HER! NOW!" **_

His demand was in a tone more feral than human and had he not been holding a dying Sango in his arms Inuyasha would never have allowed his brother that close to his mate in his current state.

Kagome took charge in an instant and told Sesshomaru to get her back to the cave and stoke the fire while she directed him to go for water. In the blink of an eye Sesshomaru was gone and as hesitant as he was to leave Kagome alone with him right now he knew Sango would not survive unless he did as she directed. Taking her to the cave and grabbing two large jugs from her backpack he looked back for an instant before quickly leaping off to a nearby stream.

Hurriedly Kagome made her way over to the now almost completely still Sango and examined the wound. Seeing a black liquid dripping from the holes in her neck she touched it with her finger and focused intently. After a moment her purifying spiritual power nullified the poison that was dripping down Sango's neck and the liquid became clear. She was relieved to know she could purify the poison she just had to do it before Sango's barely beating heart was paralyzed as well. Biting her lip she closed her eyes and started focusing on her spiritual power.

Inuyasha returned with the water a moment later and she quickly took it from him and, using the spiritual power she'd summoned within herself, she pulled the water around the palm of her hand and it started to glow blue. Gently she put her hand to the wound on Sango's neck and began to send the purifying water into her body to retrieve the poison. The water acted as a sort of buffer between Sango's demonic cells and the purifying power of her miko powers. As she felt the water absorb the poison she drew it back to the wound with her spiritual power and pulled it from her body with intense focus. The movement of the poison back to her neck, despite the fact that it was surrounded by the water and was slowly being purified, increased the pain in Sango's limbs as the paralysis wore off. As she began to cry out in pain again the low and threatening growls of Sesshomaru from the opposite side of the cave reminded Kagome that he was still there and that he did not like seeing his future mate in pain.

His eyes were still blood red and the purple stripes on his cheeks jagged; Inuyasha couldn't believe that his brother was managing to contain himself in that state with his mate's cries echoing around him. It was then that he noticed the deep bloody rivulets that had been dug into the very stone of the cave floor by Sesshomaru's claws and he could only hope that Kagome healed Sango soon because he didn't know how much longer his brother was going to be in control at this rate.

After a few more minutes of Sango's agonizing screams Kagome fell back with a sigh and released the brackish water from her hand back into the jug where it immediately became black as soon as it lost contact with her spiritual power. Sango was no longer screaming but her breath was slightly ragged and there was sweat covering her forehead. Gathering the clean water around her hand from the second jug Kagome leaned forward again and scanned her system with the water for any residual poison. There were still trace amounts in her blood stream but she could not purify it without the risk of purifying her demonic blood as well.

Withdrawing from the wound and replacing the water she made her way over to her backpack and retrieved her medical kit before returning and tending to the open and slightly bleeding wound. After cleaning and bandaging it she placed a damp rag on her forehead before standing to address the brothers.

"Sango is going to be ok now. There are still trace amounts of the poison in her system but I can't retrieve it without harming her and her own body's demonic healing will be able to fight it off now that there is so little of it."

It was hard for her to keep her eyes on the still red eyes of Sesshomaru as she said this but to her relief her words calmed him slightly and his eyes slowly faded back to gold. The stripes on his cheeks smoothed minimally but did not go entirely back to normal and she doubted they would until it was Sango's voice telling him she was ok. Thinking she was done with their conversation she turned back and was about to begin assessing the poison in the jug when Sesshomaru's deep voice stopped her.

"You purified the poison as you removed it from her body did you not priestess," his question hung in the air until she nodded slowly and he continued, "Why then could her own spiritual power not purify the poison within her?"

At that she had to pause for a moment to really think about his question. She didn't know much about Sango's power but it was true that her friend did have spiritual power; she'd been able to barely sense it when she arrived at the cave a few days earlier. Not sure exactly how to answer she thought back to what Kaede had taught her about her own miko powers and tried to answer as best she could.

"I can't say for sure Sesshomaru but the fact that Sango has not learned to control her powers yet is definitely a part of the reason. However, if what Kaede told me about miko powers is correct the priestess' power is constantly running through her body keeping it in a constant state of purification. That is why I was not affected by Naraku's miasma. In Sango's case this can't happen because her spiritual powers would constantly be clashing with and purifying her demonic aura, which would slowly kill her. Because that isn't happening I can only assume that her body has a special place for her spiritual power to be stored and it only emerges when called upon directly."

Pausing for a moment her eyes flicked between the two brothers before falling down to the pale and ragged form of Sango beside her.

"I can tell you this though, her power had to be helping her somehow because no one without spiritual power could have lasted as long as Sango did against a poison that is strong enough to return to it's original state even after being partially purified," as she said this her right arm gestured to the still black poison clouded jug beside her.

Two pairs of golden eyes met and steely looks were passed between them. They both knew that they'd nearly lost Sango today and it wasn't even to the demon who was the greatest threat to her safety but instead to some vengeful demon from her ancestor's past.

Sesshomaru clenched his jaw and fists as he watched the unsteady rise and fall of her chest. He wanted to rise and cross the cave so he could be by her side but his demon was still not fully restrained and he wouldn't risk loosing control and transforming again for fear that something would happen to her while he was in his true form.

Quietly Kagome and Inuyasha withdrew to the girl's room leaving him alone to calm down and think. As he looked at Sango's ragged form lying on the futon by the fire her agonized screams filled his mind and made him tense again. He knew that he shouldn't have allowed her to throw herself into a fight by herself without a weapon but he wanted to let her test out her demonic abilities and he didn't notice anything strange about the spider demons until he was already surrounded. Despite their inferiority their sheer numbers had kept him from getting to her until their female leader had already erected the barrier. His inner demon growled at his stupidity and he vowed not to make the same mistake ever again.

A moan of pain had him up and across the room before he could even think of the action. Crouching beside her his golden eyes watched as her small clawed had reached up to gently cup the wound on her neck as her eyes clenched shut tighter and she moaned.

"Sesshomaru…"

Her mumbled call for him calmed his demon and allowed him to fall into a more relaxed sitting position beside her. Reaching out he gently rubbed his thumb along her cheek.

"I'm here Sango."

Her brows furrowed in relief as the hand that wasn't pressed to her neck reached up and gently held his large hand to her cheek. After another moment her blue eyes opened and looked up at him with only slight pain swirling within her depths.

"What happened? I don't remember anything after that crazy demon woman bit down on my neck."

The image of the spider woman biting down into her neck and the resulting agonized screams filled his head and it wasn't until she squeezed his hand gently that he realized he'd become lost in thought.

"Sesshomaru?"

"I am fine Sango. After she injected you with her poison I broke into the barrier and killed them all before bringing you back to the cave for the priestess to heal you."

She merely smiled in relief and let the arm that was holding her neck fall back to her side. Her other hand released his and reached up and grabbed the rag off her forehead before trying to push herself up with her elbows. Her body protested weakly but she'd pushed herself through worse and Sesshomaru's strong hand on her back helped her until she was sitting upright. Looking over at him through her damp, sweat covered, bangs she thought for a moment and then put her head down with her hand to her forehead.

"Sango?"

His question from beside her sounded worried but he didn't need to worry because it wasn't pain that had her resting her palm across her face. She couldn't believe that she nearly died because she let a bunch of stupid spider demons take her by surprise. Taking her hand she deftly smacked herself in the forehead with the heel of her hand a few times before Sesshomaru caught it gently and halted her motion. Looking over at him she sighed and leaned her chest against his allowing herself to be comforted by his warm embrace.

As the rising sun shone it's first rays into the cave that housed the dog demons Sango allowed herself to drift off to sleep within the strong, protective arms of her future mate and the only man who ever truly loved her with one final thought.

_'I was pathetic today and I know Sesshomaru was really worried. This isn't acceptable. As soon as I wake up I'm going to start training harder than I've ever trained. If Inuyasha and Sesshomaru are willing to train and bleed for me then I'd better make it worth their while,'_ she thought as her mind became hazy and she drifted off to sleep.

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**A/N: And that's it. I hope yall enjoyed it even if it was a little off because of how long it's been since the last time I wrote anything. Also, I know this seems like a filler chapter but it isn't. Something in this chapter is very important in the battles to come and you will be reading later and be like "oh I see". Lol but ya yall know what to do!**

**READ AND REVIEW! **


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